


Peter Parker's December Shenanigans

by happyaspie



Series: Tony Stark is a Good Mentor [31]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: ALL THE CHRISTMAS, Advent Calendar, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bells, Board Games, Card Games, Christmas, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Eve, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Music, Christmas Shopping, Christmas Tree, Domestic Fluff, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Hot Chocolate, Ice Skating, Light Angst, New Year's Eve, New Year's Resolutions, New Years, Pajamas & Sleepwear, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Mess, Peter Parker is a Ray of Sunshine, Platonic Cuddling, Precious Peter Parker, Santa Clause, Shopping, Sleigh rides, Snow, Snowball Fight, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark is Good With Kids, Tony Stark is a Good Mentor, Twelve Days of Fic-mas, gingerbread, mentions of Hanukkah, peter parker is a good kid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-01-31 09:40:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 32,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21444124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happyaspie/pseuds/happyaspie
Summary: A collection of related short stories that center around Winter/ChristmasEverything from Advent to New Year's Eve.This is set as a continuation of the October collection but could also be read alone.❄️🍪⛄🎀🎄🎀⛄🍪❄️
Relationships: Peter Parker & Avengers Team, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Tony Stark/Pepper Potts (implied)
Series: Tony Stark is a Good Mentor [31]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1397362
Comments: 161
Kudos: 368





	1. Advent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [12/1/2019, 12:13 AM EST] Here by popular demand... I give you... December Iron Dad fluff.
> 
> #PeerPressure 😂
> 
> [12/1/2019, 6:15 AM EST]😅 Just realized I never tagged this... Like with anything. Heh. Fixed it. Carry on. 🙃

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sunday, December 1st

It was still relatively early when Tony exited his bedroom and made his way towards his own kitchen where he was unsurprised to find Peter sitting at the bar eating a bowl of cereal with Pop-tarts on the side. "Hey, kid. What are you doing up?"

Ignoring his mentor's question, Peter looked up to ask a question of his own. "'Do you know what day it is?"

"Sunday.", Tony readily replied but he already knew where this was going. "...but I'm going to go ahead and assumed you didn't mean_ what day_ so much as you meant _what date_."

"Exactly!", Peter replied with glee as he watched Tony tiredly start up the coffee maker. "...and I'm guessing you know what that means, right, Tony?"

"That you're about to start roping me into a bunch of seasonal plans?", Tony replied with a quirk of his eyebrow. Considering everything that had taken place in October, he'd already resigned himself to a packed full December. If the kid got that worked up over a night of playing dress-up, he was likely to be an absolute mess leading it not the height of the holiday season.

Peter, who's smile had yet to fade, looked at Tony with pure childish excitement. "I was going to say that it means it's almost Christmas but we can go with your answer instead.", he easily replied. Doing things with the man, outside of tech and training had quickly become one of his favorite things. 

"Hmm.", Tony replied non-committally but really he was eager to see what the month would bring. It had been a while since he'd been able to enjoy the season. "...and what sort of shenanigans will today's adventure include?"

Cocking his head to the side in thought, Peter eventually shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I hadn't really thought about it.", he said before nearly instantly being struck with the perfect way to start the month. "Wait! I have an idea."

"Fabulous.", Tony replied as if he weren't the least bit interested. "What is it?"

"Can we go to the store, Tony?", Peter asked as he rapidly began to clean up his dishes so that when Tony gave the inevitable okay, he could run off to get ready to go.

For a moment, all Tony could do was look at Peter from across the room. He'd not had near enough coffee yet but he was pretty sure that the kid had just asked to go to the store and that seemed far too tame to be right. "That's it? You want to go to the store?", he asked in disbelief. There had to be more to it.

"Mm-hmm. I want to get one of those chocolate advent calendar things. You know, where you open up a little door every morning and eat the little chocolate inside? It count's down to Christmas. I don't have one yet.", Peter explained, going ahead and assuming that the man wouldn't know what he was talking about.

Laughing lightly, Tony crossed the distance between them and crossed his arms over his chest. "Wait so for the entirety of December, you're going to eat candy with breakfast? Pop-tarts aren't enough for you?"

"It's not the entirety of December, Tony. It's just the first twenty-four days.", Peter replied with mock annoyance. "...and I don't think one tiny piece of chocolate counts as '_eating candy with breakfast_'"

"Whatever you say, kid.", Tony replied, reaching out to ruffle the boy's hair. 

A few short hours later, Peter was dragging Tony into a large department store where he spotted what he wanted the moment they walked in. "There they are! See, Tony, tiny chocolates.", Peter exclaimed as he held up the artfully decorated cardboard box and pointed towards the small perforated doors. "It's not like I would be pouring a king size bag of m&m's into a bowl milk and calling it a part of a complete breakfast or anything."

Ignoring the kid's snark, Tony glanced down at the price handing on the display and held out his hand in question. "It costs two dollars?", he asked with skepticism. 

"Yeah? Is that a problem?", Peter asked in return. He didn't really understand what his mentor was getting at with that question. It wasn't like it was out of his price range. The man had enough money to buy one for every kid in the state... maybe the country if he was so inclined. 

"I guess not? ...but twenty-four pieces of chocolate for two dollars seems a bit... unrealistic.", Tony carefully explained. He was pretty sure that even a bag of twenty-four Hershey's Kisses would cost more than that and these were claiming to be 'individually modeled' While Peter seemed undisturbed, he was having trouble with the authenticity of it all. "Are you sure that's real chocolate in there?"

"Of course it's real chocolate.", Peter replied with a laugh before pointing out the words that Tony had read previously yon his own. "It says so on the box. 'Individually Molded Milk chocolatey Treats'"

"Give me that.", he said as he held out his hand to receive the box the kid was holding onto. Once he had it in his hands he began to read through the ingredients, though he didn't have to get far before all of his misgivings were solidified. "Kid, the first three ingredients are Sugar, Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil and Whey... There's no cocoa butter or chocolate liquor anywhere in it.", he said with his brows knit together. "It's not _real_ chocolate. It's chocolate _flavored._"

Peter snatched the package back and scrunched up his face as he too read through the list on the back. That, however, didn't seem to help with his confusion. "It has cocoa in it. See?", he stated as he pointed to where the word showed up somewhere towards the bottom of the list.

"That doesn't make it real chocolate, kid.", Tony replied with a laugh before taking the boy by the shoulder and following the red and green signs that lead to the back of the store. "Look, let's go look at the actual Christmas section. I bet we can find something better. If not I'm sure I can order a one. You'll just have to eat two chocolates tomorrow.", he reasoned as Peter walked begrudgingly beside him.

"I always get the cheap one. It's fine.", he grumbled. He wasn't sure why he was so against the idea of looking for a better option. Maybe because the little bits of sub-par chocolate were sort of a tradition at this point. He had them every year.

"Yeah, well, if I'm buying it then it has to contain actual chocolate.", Tony stated with confidence. "Now, let's go. The quicker we pick one out the quicker we can leave. I have stuff to do today and I know you have plans to go... _out _later.", he added being careful to not say too much about the boy's afternoon _activities_ too loudly. 

"Fine.", Peter relented and picked up his pace so that they could get to the back of the store that much more quickly. Once they got there he was kind of surprised to see the variety of advent calendars the store had to offer but then again, he supposed he'd never looked before. What he wanted was nearly always on display by the checkouts. Sighing, he looked along the shelves until he spotted one that was similar to the ones that he normally got and handed it over to Tony who was watching him carefully. "Is this one real chocolate?"

"Does it cost more than two dollars?", the man asked with his eyebrow raised.

"It's five.", Peter replied as he continued to shake the box towards his mentor so that he would take it from him. 

Rolling his eyes, Tony took the package and turned it over in his hands. It didn't take long for him to come to his verdict and pass it back with a sigh. "It has vegetable oil in it, kid, so no. Try again.", he uttered before laughing lightly. "Maybe something closer to the double digits."

After shoving the box back onto the shelf, Peter turned around to face his mentor. "You know, I'm the one who'll be eating it. Why does it matter?", he asked with a little more passion than he'd meant to.

Tony chuckled and began to look over the shelves himself. "Maybe I want to get one too? Ever think of that, Smarty Pants?", he asked with humor. He'd actually not thought any such thing but if the kid was going to be all weird about buying a stupid calendar filled with good chocolate then he would happily take the blame for the purchase. 

Rolling his eyes, Peter kept his arms crossed over his chest and leaned onto the shelving. "Whatever. You pick then.", he relied not ungratefully. He just wasn't sure what the man was _wanting_ him to pick up. Having him do it himself seemed like the easier way to go about it.

It didn't take terribly long for Tony to spot one that grabbed his attention and he was picking it up to hand it over to Peter. "How about this one?", he laughed. "I _really like_ this one."

Giving the much larger box a good look, Peter's eyes went wide. "It's not even candy, Tony! It's toys", he shouted in something between disbelief and awe.

"It's _Avengers_ toys.", Tony corrected with a smile before tipping his head to the side and clarifying. "_Figures. _ The box says figures, not toys."

"Right. Because that's an important specification.", Peter clipped back with another brief roll of his eyes. Toys, figures, either way, it wasn't candy.

Tony laughed and pretended to glare at the boy across from him. "Says the kid who is perfectly fine with _fake chocolate._"

"I like fake chocolate.", Peter defended, sticking his chin out in defiance. 

"You'll like real chocolate even better. Look here's one.", Tony said as he finally located an advent calendar with some name brand chocolate inside of it. 

Peter looked to where the man had taken the box from and practically gasped. "It's almost twenty-three dollars!", he said with absolute horror. 

Laughing lightly Tony placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. "You know, you had no problem with me spending thirty-six dollars on _apples_...", he happily pointed out.

"That was different! That was _an experience_ and--", Peter nearly shouted before being cut off by his still laughing mentor.

"--Yeah? Well, this is an experience too.", he quipped before waving his hand vaguely towards the shelves. "Grab another one. I wasn't kidding, I want one too.", he said seriously before pointing to the end of the aisle. "... and grab me one of those Avengers ones while you're at it"

"For you?", Peter asked dubiously because the man had said '_grab me one_' and he wasn't sure what he'd meant by that.

"Of course, for me!", Tony instantly replied. "I'll share it with you though. You can have all the ones that _aren't me_."

"That's so generous of you.", Peter deadpanned. "...and not at all conceited."

"'Tis the season", Tony returned with a shrug of his shoulders, already walking back towards the front of the store, Peter shaking his head behind him. 

Once they had checked out and made their way back to the car, Peter was already pulling the calenders out of the bag. "Thank you.", he chirped as he plucked the first chocolate out of the one he'd claimed as his. 

"You're welcome.", Tony said with a smile. "...and just so you know. I'm completely and totally looking forward to whatever nonsense you come up with for us to do over the next few weeks.", he added while holding out his hand to receive the candy that had come from his own box. 

"Good because I have_ ideas_, Tony.", Peter said with a grin. "_So many ideas._"

Rolling his eyes, Tony laughed at the boy beside him. "Great. I'll be there with bells on.", he replied, holding back as much amusement as he could. 

"Literally?", Peter asked with enthusiasm even though he was pretty sure that was not the case. However, he couldn't stop himself from pictured Tony walking around with bells around his neck, jingling with every step. 

"Absolutely not.", Tony replied with disbelief. As if he was going to_ literally wear bells_. The kid was a mess, that was all there was too it. "...but I will be there.", he added softly, realizing exactly what he'd implied. 

Knowing what his mentor meant, Peter smiled contentedly. "Thanks, Tony.", he said, matching the man's tone.

"Don't mention it, kid.", Tony replied before starting the car. "Now, open up my first figure. I bet it's me."

Peter rolled his eyes and did just that, laughing hysterically when it was not Iron Man hidden behind the little door but Captian America instead. "He is the first Avenger so maybe it makes sense!", Peter continued to cackle as Tony glared at him.

"You know what. I've changed my mind. I get all the ones that are me and you get none.", Tony replied as if he were annoyed but his smile said otherwise.

Peter rolled his eyes and let out a snort. "Whatever you say, Tony."

"Exactly. Whatever I say. ...and don't forget it.", Tony teased while pointing an accusatory finger so close to Peter's nose that he had to turn his head to the side.

  
"I would never...", he replied with what sounded like honestly before he began to grin teasingly at the man beside him. "... but I'm keeping the Captain America."


	2. Jingle Bells

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tuesday, December 3rd

As Peter walked into the lab on Tuesday the first thing he noticed was the music. It was always the first thing he noticed. There was no way to not notice it because it was always loud. The other thing he noticed was that most of the time, he had no idea what was playing. Tony had tried several times to 'educate' him about 'real' music but the lessons never stuck. He could never get the right bands associates with the right songs. Never, not even once. "Hey Tony!", he shouted over the music, leading the man to lower the volume to a more Spiderling friendly volume."

"Hey there, kiddo. I didn't realize what time it was. Did you get a snack?", Tony asked with a smile as he watched Peter practically skip towards him.

"Yep!", Peter replied as he sat down beside Tony on the workbench. "Happy got me a gingerbread latte and a piece of cake from Starbucks.", he said with glee. "It was _amazing."_

"So, let me get this straight. Happy decided to sugar you up, caffeinate you and then dropped you off with me?", Tony teased, laughing with Peter's face went from happy to what he assumed was supposed to be menacing but it was anything but.

"I'm not five. I don't get sugar highs anymore.", Peter claimed without humor before his tone rapidly changed to something more excitable. "Speaking of sugar! Did you remember to do open your calendars?"

"Kid... you text me every morning to remind me.", Tony replied with a small chuckle. "... which reminds me, there are two more figures for you up in the penthouse. Here we are on day three and not one Iron Man. I should have at least been day two. I should call someone about that--"

"--you definitely shouldn't.", Peter said looking slightly wary. He couldn't decide if the man would actually do something like that or not. Tony had a way of being unpredictable, though usually in a good way. Like, who would have ever guessed he'd be so willing to hang around some random teenager for Queens. It was one thing for the man to want to mentor Spider-man it was quite another for him to do random things with him as _Peter_, just because. Though rather than voicing any of _that_, he shook himself back to the present and looked towards the ceiling. "...and what are you listening to? It's very..._ loud._"

Having been slightly taken by that question, Tony gave Peter a once over but continued to look at him with mild concern. There was a very specific volume setting in place for whenever Peter was there. One that he'd had the kid himself set up one day after he'd mentioned that the current volume was hurting his ears. Though he also knew that there were days where Peter's senses were more acute than others and those days tended to lead into migraines. "Are you feeling okay? We can cut the music altogether if we need to.", he suggested, not wanting the boy to be uncomfortable.

Realizing what he had illuded to, Peter was quick to amend his statement. "No, not like that. The _volume_ is fine. I just meant... I mean, are they even _singing_? They sound like their just _yelling_... with a guitar in the background."

"Did you just_ insult_ Black Sabbath?", Tony asked with an eyebrow quirked.

"Um...", Peter replied with a sheepish grin. "Maybe? Is that who that is?"

Rolling his eyes, Tony turned from his mentee and went back to the wires he'd been working with before the boy had arrived. "You're a mess, you know that?"

"I've heard.", Peter replied with ease. Tony made sure to tell him such on a regular basis but he was never overly offended by it. It was almost a term of endearment at this point. "Can I please pick the music today, Tony?"

Tony sighed and looked at Peter with a near grimace. "As long as it's not a musical... sure.", he finally gave in. The kid was a genius and was good at many, many things. That's part of the reason they got along so well but they had _nothing_ in common when it came to music. As such, Peter was always beyond thrilled whenever he was given control of the soundtrack for the afternoon.

"It won't be I promise.", Peter said with glee as he looked up at the ceiling, as he always did whenever he was about to speak the AI. Tony used to give him a hard time about it but now he just accepted that the kid was so polite that he had to _fake eye contact_ with a non-corporeal being. "FRIDAY? Can you play some Christmas music, please?", he asked with giddy excitement but Tony was quick to jump in.

"Absolutely not. Don't you dare play any of that! Do you hear me FRIDAY? That's definitely an order.", Tony clipped while squinting his eyes at his mentee.

"Hey!", Peter interjected with a laugh. "You said I could pick as long as it wasn't a musical!"

"That was before I realized you were going to start playing _that_. I think I'd prefer the musicals.", Tony replied even though he couldn't decide if that was true or not. Both options seemed equally annoying at the moment. 

Rather than protesting, Peter looked at Tony in such a way that the man _knew_ he was up to something but he opted to let it go _for the time being_. Mostly because he was interested in what the kid was thinking. It always amused him to see how the kid's head worked. "FRIDAY? Can you please play the soundtrack to the musical... Elf?"

Tony gave the kid exactly one song before cutting it off. "Okay, that's enough of that.", he said with authority. "No more music decisions for you."

"Aw! Come on, Tony!", Peter mildly complained. "It's only for a month and it's _traditional_. You're _supposed_ to listen to Christmas music in December. It gets you into the spirit."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Tony brought his lips together in a thin line. "The only spirit I want to get into is the one I'm going to make myself after you go home.", he half grumbled to himself but Peter and his enhanced hearing heard him just fine.

"We really need to work on your festive attitude.", Peter replied with a good-natured roll of his eyes.

Feeling_ slightly_ guilty for not just sucking it up and allowing the kid his cheery holiday background noise, Tony scoffed. "Oh, yeah? Well, good luck with that.", he said with a forced smile.

Ignoring the uneasy posture the man was presenting, Peter grinned widely. "Are you giving me permission to try?", he asked with enthusiasm.

"Sure. Go for it.", Tony laughed, however, he instantly regretted it.

"Awesome!", Peter nearly shouted before glancing up at the ceiling once again. "Hey FRIDAY? Can you please restart the Christmas music?", he asked sweetly. "Oh! How about Jingle Bells? Can you play that one first?"

All Tony could do was stand there with his mouth hanging open because he'd walked right into that. "I hate you, you know that?", he said with a look that was meant to tell the kid that he didn't mean one word of that.

"No, you don't. You love me and you know it.", Peter replied with lighthearted confidence, not even thinking about what he'd said or what it could imply. That particular come-back had fallen out of his mouth on instinct.

For a moment, Tony considered agreeing with him but in the end, he decided to remain somewhat neutral. "Whatever you say, kid.", he said softly.

"Exactly. Whatever I say _and I say_ we listen to Christmas music.", Peter teased before hopping up off of Tony's bench and scurrying across the room towards his own.

Unwilling to change the music, Tony resigned himself to his fate. Though he found himself not minding it near as much as he thought he would. Maybe because he could hear Peter in the background singing and humming along as he worked. Whatever the cause, he let the effervescent music continue to fill the room. Then, after some time, he heard the boy calling his name and startled slightly. "What was that, kiddo?"

"I asked if we could go somewhere this weekend.", Peter repeated but time, as he crossed the room to return to his mentor's side. 

Only looking up from his desk for a moment, Tony smirked. "Depends on where you want to go.", he replied as if he might actually say 'no'. Though they both knew he wouldn't.

"Ice skating.", Peter readily provided. "I've never done that before."

Tony smiled softly because _he had_ done that before. It had been a very long time but used to do it often growing up. Both with his friends and with his mother. In fact, she had been the one to teach him how to skate. He allowed himself to indulge in that memory for a few moments before turning towards Peter. Seeing the kid's eager expression as he waited for an answer left him with an undeniable urge to pass those lessons along and he sighed contentedly. "Sure, kid. That sounds absolutely perfect."


	3. Ice Skating

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Saturday, December 7th

Peter spent all of Saturday eagerly awaiting the moment that Tony would say it was time to 'close up shop' and get ready to go out. They were supposed to get a quick lunch and then drive down to the large ice skating rink that had been set up in the middle of the city. As such, by the time the clock struck noon, Peter was practically jumping off of his seat in the lab. "Is it time to go? You said we would go out at lunch and it's already twelve.", he said the moment he'd cleared up what little work he'd actually gotten done and crossed the room.

Having not been watching the time, Tony lifted the dark safety glasses that he'd been wearing so that they were sitting slightly askew on the top of his head. "Is it that time already?", he mumbled mostly to himself but Peter answered anyway.

"Yes, Tony. It's twelve o'three. Can we go?", Peter asked as he stood behind the man practically vibrating with excitement. He had been looking forward to this and wasn't sure he was capable of waiting any longer. Not even for ten more minutes. He was ready to go.

Smiling at the kid's unyielding anticipation, he started to clean up his area quickly. "Yeah, kid. We can go. Let me go get cleaned up real quick and you need to put something a little warmer than that on.", he said without much thought but noticed when Peter was looking at him with an eyebrow quirked. "What? It's freezing out there. You can't tell me that your plan was to be outside for over an hour in a t-shirt and jacket."

"No.", Peter replied indignantly. "I have a hat and mittens too."

"Right.", Tony said with a laugh. "Well, just humor me and put on a sweater, yeah?"

Huffing slightly, Peter agreed and ran upstairs to put on what was apparently a required additional layer. He'd wanted to give the man a hard time, tell him he was doing the 'dad' thing again but he didn't. Mostly because he was ready to go and would have willingly put on any number of shirts and sweaters just to be able to leave more quickly. With that in mind he went into his room and threw the first sweater he came across over his head and went back to the living room where he paced until the moment Tony to emerged, freshly showered and dressed in warm clothing. From there they were quickly out the door.

Because of Peter's impatience, lunch ended up being several hot dogs from a cart as they walked towards the large Christmas tree that was located in the center of the pop-up ice skating rink. Upon seeing the crowd that was surrounding the area, Peter looked towards Tony who had surprisingly not tried to dress in such a way as to obscure his identity. While _he knew_ the man was wearing nothing more than faded jeans and a casual long-sleeved shirt, all the people around them could see was the expensive-looking woolen overcoat that had been paired with a large burgundy scarf and soft leather gloves. It almost made him feel underdressed in his slightly too large puff-coat and old knitted hat and mittens.

Though what had surprised Peter the most was that the bag Tony had carried with him, held a pair of frayed ice skates. "You have your own ice skate?", Peter asked when the man had handed him the money to go and rent a pair for himself. 

"Yeah, I used to go ice skating all the time in the winter. It's just been a while.", Tony easily replied, not registering the shocked look on his mentee's face. 

"Really, Tony? You already know how to skate?", Peter asked with something between astonishment and general skepticism.

Tightening the laces in his first skate, Tony looked up and chuckled lightly. "Is it really that hard to believe?"

"No.", Peter rapidly replied. "I just... I mean, I sort of thought that maybe, maybe we could learn together.", he said growing slightly more sheepish the longer he spoke. Though he wasn't sure why. He didn't_ think_ it was weird that he had expected this to be a learning experience for both of them. Then again maybe it had been. He wasn't sure but decided not to overthink it.

"Sorry, kid. I've been ice skating since before you were even a twinkle in your mother's eye. My mom taught me when I was small. ..._but_ the good news is that now _I_ get to teach _you_.", Tony returned as he reached over and tapped Peter right on the end of his nose with a pleased look on his face. 

When he thought about it, the idea of Tony teaching him actually sounded even better than them learning it together and he nodded his head. "Yeah. That sounds awesome.", Peter said with a smile before taking off to get his own skates. It didn't take terribly long and by the time he returned Tony was already laced up and ready to help Peter with his.

"Let me do it, kiddo. You've got to get them nice and tight or your ankles will get sore.", he said as he knelt down to reach the ties that Peter had been preparing to knot without all of the additional tugging and pulling that Tony ended up doing. Then when he was satisfied with his work, he stood up and held his hand out to Peter. "Ready?"

"Mm-hmm. I'm ready.", Peter replied with a smile as he stood up and carefully made his way over to the little door leading to the ice. With one of his hands holding onto Tony's and the other holding onto the wall, he gingerly stepped onto the slick surface and his foot went flying out from under him causing him to yelp and squeeze Tony's hand in surprise. He'd been extremely startled to find himself feeling quite _so unsteady_. He'd not really expected that. His Spider DNA had given him near-perfect balance. Because of that, he couldn't remember the last time his body ever felt so out of control... and he hadn't made it more than four small steps onto the ice yet. 

"You alright?", Tony asked when Peter's grasp on his hand became so tight that it was almost painful as the kid shuffled ever so slowly beside him on the ice.

"Mm-hmm.", Peter lied because if he was being honest with himself he was actually fairly terrified that he was going to end up spending more time on his butt than on his feet if he let go of the wall.

"Yeah.", Tony said with a smirk as he watched Peter continue to wobble his way along the wall. "You look it. Here, let go of my hand for a second. I'll be right back.", he said before slowly taking off leaving his mentee to hang pathetically onto the wall. Once he had taken a full lap in order to get all of his bearings back, Tony came to a graceful stop right beside a disgruntled looking Peter. 

"You _left_ me...", Peter snapped with disbelief. 

Tony laughed and held his hands up in defense. "I came right back! I needed a lap to warm up and remember what I'm doing.", he said before smoothly turning around so that he was elegantly skating backward in front of a still very unsteady Peter. "Now, give me both of your hands."

"You want me to let go of the wall?", Peter asked with trepidation because he was pretty sure the wall was the only thing holding him up and that made him nervous. He was so used to sticking to everything that sliding made him feel unstable and insecure. He now had a complete understanding as to why so many species of spider _hibernated in the winter _because clearly, spiders and ice do _not_ mix.

Smiling softly, Tony held his hand out in front of him. "Yes, Pete. I want you to let go of the wall.", he said and when Peter did so despite his obvious unease, he smiled fully. "There you go. Alright, lesson number one, don't look down."

Still scooting forward at a snail's pace, Peter went from looking down at his feet, to attempting to look his mentor in the eye. "Why not?", he asked more out of curiosity than anything else. That and he sort of wanted something to take his mind off of the way his feet were _definitely_ not sticking to the ground as they should.

"Gravity. It grabs you by the nose and pulls you down.", Tony said before shrugging his shoulders a little. "That and it's nice to see where you're going..."

"Right. Seeing where I'm going...", Peter repeated with a shaky breath but he had to admit that it did feel _slightly_ better to be looking up. He couldn't, however, decide if that was because he was better balanced or if it was because Tony was looking at him so encouragingly.

"Yep. Just like that. Good job, kid.", Tony said, immediately noticing the way the boy was no longer constantly pulling at his hands to right himself. "Now bend your knees a little and keep your weight on the balls of your feet... That's lesson number two.", he said offering praise when Peter did so. They stayed that way for at least two laps around the large rink. Peter going forward, gaining more and more confidence as they went and Tony going backward with Peter's hands still in his.

It wasn't until Peter was consistently picking up his feet to glide that Tony let go of one of his hands and expertly returned to his side. "I think I'm getting it, Tony.", he said with a small smile before instantly having to pull on the man's hand to prevent himself from falling backward. "Okay, well, starting to get it. I'm getting better, right?"

"Yeah, Pete. You're getting way better.", Tony replied and he meant it. The kid was improving quickly. It seemed like once he relaxed and stopped fruitlessly attempting to rely on his sticky, spider powers that he'd been able to better control his balance. "You're well on your way to learning lesson number three."

"What's lesson number three, Tony?", Peter asked as he finally got used to only having one hand to rebalance himself with. 

Tony smirked in response. "Do you think you're ready for that, kid?", he asked in amusement.

"Maybe?", Peter questioned but he was more focused on staying upright than the look on his mentor's face. "I mean, probably.", he added and the second those words left his mouth he felt a tug on his arm as Tony propelled him forward and let go completely. That left him soaring forward at double the speed he'd been going and decidedly worried. "Why would you do that?"

"Lesson number three.", Tony said as he sped up to keep in pace. "Bring your toes together slightly to slow down and eventually stop."

Peter tried to do as he was asked, he really did but for some reason, he couldn't get his feet to cooperate and he ended up looking down as if that would help him figure out why. As he did so, he began to fall forward and rapidly tried to straighten his back in order to prevent that from happening. However, he overcompensated and leaned backward in the process, thus causing him to fall backward on to his butt, with an audible 'oof'. "I was definitely not ready for that.", he grumbled as he attempted to get back up but his feet kept sliding out from under him.

"I've got you.", Tony said, reaching out to pull the kid back up, laughing the whole time.

"It's not funny, Tony.", Peter insisted without any heat, once he was back to slowly skating along with Tony holding his hand. 

Giving a gentle squeeze to the hand that was back in his, Tony smiled. "I'm sorry. I should have warned you.", he said before chuckling lightly. "You have to admit, it was kind of funny though."

Just as Peter was about to adamantly disagree, he noticed for the first time, that people were watching them. Not just a few people... seemingly everyone had their eyes and subsequently their cameras on them. "Um, Tony? Do, do we need to leave?"

"No... why?", Tony asked with concern because now that he was looking at him, the kid looked uncomfortable. "You're not hurt are you? I probably should have asked you that already..."

"I'm fine.", Peter returned before sort of nodding his head in the general direction of the people standing around outside of the rink. "... but they're all watching us."

Shrugging his shoulders, Tony looked at the crowd and then back at Peter. "Yeah. They've been watching us for a while now. It's not a big deal.", he said casually because he was used to all eyes being on him. He realized now that he could have done a better job of blending into the crowd but he'd not thought of that beforehand. Ice skating was one the few things that he still remembered fondly from his childhood and he had been so eager to share that with Peter that being surreptitious had slipped his mind. It would be fine though. That's what he had a Public Relations Department for.

"Are you sure?", Peter asked dubiously. It seemed like the man was always worried about being spotted when they went out places together and he wasn't sure why today would be any different. "Aren't you worried about what they'll think or something?"

Tony legitimately laughed at that. "Kid. I couldn't possibly care any less about what people think.", he said before growing serious. "I should have dressed down today though. Worn a hat or something... I never meant for you to get caught up in all of this."

"It's okay.", Peter replied as he continued to try and keep the majority of his concentration on skating. Now that he was aware of everyone watching them, the idea of falling felt that much worse. "What do you think they're going to say about Tony Stark ice skating with some random kid?"

"That you're my secret kid or something probably.", Tony replied with a roll of his eyes and flourish of his free hand. While there were sure to be a few more _unique_ conjectures, him having a secret biological child would more than likely be the prevailing assumption. They both had dark hair and eyes and had been holding hands for the last hour and a half. It made sense.

After a few moments of thought, Peter gave Tony a small smile. "I guess that's not so bad.", he said with a nod of his head. There were definitely worse things to be accused of that being Tony' Starks biological son and anyone who knew him was already well aware that it wasn't true.

Noticing that the last few minutes of conversation had made the kid somewhat uneasy, Tony give him a teasing smile as he hurriedly yanked his hand away. "Maybe for you, it's not.", he uttered feigning disgust before taking off full speed, leaving Peter standing there on shaky legs with his mouth hanging open.

"Hey!", Peter shouted in surprise as he watched the man look over his shoulder and laugh. At that point, he began to struggle to pick up some speed, even though he knew there was no hope of his catching up. "Get back here! Tony! Wait for me!", he called out while still in pursuit but Tony didn't stop right away. He was enjoying watching Peter attempt to hurry after him. The impromptu game of chase seemed to have caused the boy to become suddenly more confident than ever because he began to pick up pace without thinking.

Though after completing a quick lap, Tony paused on the ice and allowed Peter to finish closing the distance between them. However, neither of them seemed to remember that Peter had failed to learn how to stop until it was too late and Peter was colliding with him and knocking them both into the wall, laughing. 

"I'm sorry.", Peter nearly shrieked with laughter as they grabbed ahold of each other in a surprisingly successful attempt to keep themselves upright with the support of the wall that Tony was now leaning on. This left them standing there with their arms wrapped around each other and Peter's head laying on Tony's chest as they laughed until neither of them could catch their breath.

"We need to work on lesson number three, kiddo.", Tony laughed as he relinquished his hold and righted himself before helping Peter to do the same.

... and of course, that is the image that ended up going viral. 

[_Eighteen more sleeps until Christmas_]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There. The world finally got a small taste of domestic Tony Stark with his pseduo son...intern. I totally meant intern.


	4. Deck the Halls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Monday, December 9th

Even though it was Monday, Peter was heading right over to the Avenger's compound right after school because he knew that Tony had hired some people to come in to decorate the building. He wasn't sure what to expect but he assumed it would be nothing but the best and by the time he'd stepped into the lobby there was already no denying it. It was, in fact, nothing but the best. There was a huge tree in the corner covered with red and gold bobbles and stings of lights while the walls were adorned with wreaths and bows. The whole thing looked like something out of a magazine and he could wait to see what the rest of the building looked like.

Going straight to the common floor he was unsurprised to see that it was equally embellished but this time the color scheme switched up to blue, white and silver. The only other major difference being, that there were several neatly wrapped packages under the tree. He was just about to consider being nosey and seeing who had placed them there and for whom when he heard the elevator doors slide open. 

"Hey, kid!", Tony said with an obvious bounce to his voice. "What do you think? Is it Christmasy enough in here for you?"

Unable to control his excitement, Peter smiled widely and practically leaped across the room towards the man. "Yes! This is amazing. It looks like some sort of magazine cover. Everything is so perfect it's crazy.", he said while bouncing on his toes. "What about the penthouse?"

"What about it?", Tony asked with mild confusion. Though he really should have expected that. The kid was beyond excited about the idea of having the building decorated for Christmas. Of course, he would want the part of it that he called him home, one or two nights a week decked out too.

"What do you mean,_ what about it_? You had it decorated too, right, Tony?", Peter asked with what almost sounded like concern.

Sighing, Tony rolled his eyes and gave the boy a defeated look. "Sorry, kid. I didn't see the point. I'm hardly ever up there. It seemed unnecessary."

"Oh.", Peter said with a nod of his head, trying to sound like it was no big deal. "That's cool. This looks great, though, Tony. Very festive.", he added with a smile that Tony returned immediately.

"Well, you know, it's just now occurred to me that_ I do_ spend more time up there than I used now that I have you coming to visit and all that. ..._so maybe_ I should give them a call. I bet they could come back one day this week and make another picture-perfect room. Maybe red and blue.", Tony said replied honestly. He really was in the penthouse far more than he had been even a year ago. Partially because Pepper was staying there some now... but mostly because of Peter. 

Peter nodded his head in agreement but he'd already come up with an even better plan. One that wouldn't require a phone call or the need to wait until any other day. "...Or we could just do.", he happily suggested and was pleasantly surprised when Tony looked like he was actually considering the idea.

"Seeing as we didn't actually have any plans for the lab today and I don't have any more meetings... maybe we could.", Tony said with a smile. "Where do we start?", he asked not knowing that particular question would send Peter into an animated shpiel about everything that they needed to purchase. ...and it was a lot. At least it sounded like a lot. Then again, the kid tended to ramble when he was excited, making hard to decipher the actual list from the additional side comments. "--Slow down, Kiddo. I need a list, not a monologue."

"Right!", Peter rapidly replied before taking a breath and starting over. This time more slowly. "We need a tree, lights and some ornaments for sure.", he said carefully and when Tony gave an indication that he could go on he added, "...and maybe some, candy canes and garland too."

Nodding his head in understanding, Tony started to ask FRIDAY if all of those things could be ordered for same-day delivery. Which of course they could, he was Tony Stark and he wasn't known for his patience. He would pay hundreds of dollars just to have any given store accommodate his whims. Including a hand-delivered Christmas tree but when Peter looked like maybe that wasn't what he'd had in mind, he paused. "Actually FRIDAY, scratch all of that. Me and the kid are going shopping.", he announced eliciting what sounded an awful lot like a small squeal from the teenager.

This time, Tony remembered to dress down, as suspected the media had gone nuts with all of the pictures of them ice skating and he wasn't keen to give them anything else at the moment. They started out on the outside of the store where Peter insisted that they needed a _'real tree'_ because he'd never had one before and they _smell nice_. He, as expected, gave in instantly and had a very large tree strapped to the top of his very expensive car in no time.

Once that was taken care of they were back inside the store to finish off the remainder of their list. "What color ornaments do you want to use? I was serious about the red and blue if that's what you want.", Tony said once he'd spotted the large tubes of solid-colored balls and baubles but he was quick to realize that he was essentially talking to himself. "Pete? Where did you go?", he called out the end of the aisle and then followed the voice that was instantly calling him over.

"I found the lights. I picked up three packages. Do you think we need more than that?", Peter asked as he pointed towards the boxes he'd tossed into the cart.

Tony picked up one of the boxes to try and get an idea of how many they might need when he realized what exactly he'd picked up. "Kid. These are colored lights. We need the white ones."

"Why?", Peter asked in confused amusement. 

"Because these are tacky?", Tony replied with an eyebrow quirked. While he'd not decorated his own home in a few years, he could clearly remember the clean organized look of every tree he'd ever had. Even as a child, there was always a theme and it never included flashing multi-colored lights. 

"You take that back, Tony!", Peter shouted in jest even though he did feel the need to defend the twinkling strings of vibrant lights. "They aren't tacky. _They're fun_."

"They won't go with the color scheme...", Tony practically whined. The whole blue and red thing had grown on him and he'd already had it all pictured in his head. He wasn't sure he wanted to give that up.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Peter resisted the urge to stomp his foot. He'd realized instantly that it was petulant but the man_ wasn't listening_. The compound already had two flawless and tastefully decorated rooms and he really wanted to make the penthouse look more like... a home. "I _like_ these and why do we even_ need_ a color scheme?"

"I thought you liked the whole 'it looks like it came out of a magazine look.'", Tony replied defeatedly. 

"I do. ...but I also like this. The penthouse doesn't_ need_ to look like a magazine too, does it?", Peter replied, causing Tony to begin to relent. "It'll look good, Tony. I promise"

"Fine. Our color scheme is officially 'no color scheme'", Tony conceded with a smile even though he wasn't one hundred percent sold on the idea. However, he wasn't doing this for him, he was doing it for Peter so he figured he may as well go with it all.

"Awesome! Now we need ornaments!", Peter nearly shouted before pushing the cart towards the next aisle.

Following behind with his hands in his pockets, Tony started to look around at the various options. Including the tubes of matching balls that he'd been looking at previously. "I'm guessing we aren't getting these then, huh?", he asked as he gestured towards the shelf holding the identically shaped adornments. 

"If you like them, then yeah, we should definitely get some.", Peter said without hesitation. While he didn't necessarily feel the need to have those and only those on the tree, if Tony liked them then he wanted there to be some. "... but come look at these too.", he added enthusiasm.

Selecting two tubes of six, one in blue and one in red as he'd originally planned, Tony dropped them into the cart and walked towards Peter. "What have you got over here?", he asked with a smile when he saw the way Peter was smiling at the various little boxes of character themes dangling trinkets. 

"Look! It's you.", Peter said with glee as he held out a tiny Iron Man that looked as though it were about to take flight. "...and Captain America. ...and I found Thor too but I think they're out of all the other ones."

Still holding onto the small version of himself Tony chuckled lightly. "No Spider-Man?", he asked already knowing that there wasn't. He wondered who he could commission an artist to make one for him. Maybe two. One for him and one for Peter but before he could think much more on that, he was being handed several more boxes but this time they were Star Wars ships. 

"These are cool, right?", Peter asked before gesturing towards the display. "You pick some."

Rolling his eyes and smiling softly, Tony looked at the ones Peter had already chosen and then picked up a few more generically themed ones to add to the growing pile. After that, they went to collect the more practical necessities, like a tree stand and skirt before walking towards the register and then driving back to the compound where they instantly hit a problem. "Kid... there is no way this tree is going to fit in the elevator...", Tony said once they had managed to get it through the double doors. 

"What about the stairs?", Peter asked hopefully. When he'd insisted on the giant tree all he'd really considered was the fact that Tony had really tall ceilings and not how they were going to get it to the suite. When Tony peeked into the stairwell and shook his head, he quickly came up with another plan. He just wasn't sure how Tony would feel about it. "What if I put on my Spider-man suit and carried it up the side of the building? It would fit through the big doors up there, right?"

After some thought, Tony reluctantly agreed. There was a balcony up there with double doors that equaled in size to the one in the front. It would work. He just wasn't thrilled about the idea of the kid scaling the building with an eighty-pound tree in tow. However, once the kid had his suit on and picked the tree up, tucking it under one arm, his unease started to melt into amusement as the boy scurried up the side of the building and deposited the tree on the balcony before diving, _literally diving_, back down to help with the bags. "Have fun?", Tony asked with a small laugh when Peter came charging back towards the car.

"Mm-hmm. I really need to jump off of that balcony more often.", he replied with a grin as he pulled his mask off and tucked it into one of the large bags he pulled from the trunk.

"Hmm.", Tony hummed noncommittally. "We can talk about that later, we have work to do."

Once all the bags were inside, Peter insisted on starting up some Christmas music and Tony rolled his eyes. Setting up the tree was an adventure but they got through it and from there, the next hour was filled with untangling lights and unboxing trinkets before hanging them haphazardly all over a colossal tree. At first, Tony was having a very hard time with the overly colorful and garish decore but the more he watched Peter hop around the tree smiling the more it grew on him. It looked... homely and that was sort of a nice change of pace.

"What do you think, Tony?", Peter asked as he placed what Tony thought was the last decoration onto one of the higher branches. 

"I think you were right. It didn't need to look like a magazine. In fact, this might be even better. It looks like a home.", Tony said as he looked at the lively corner of the room from where he'd sat down on the couch.

Peter smiled with pride and skipped over to where his mentor was sitting. "I knew you'd like it.", he said before thrusting a small object into Tony's hand. "This is the last one. You should hang it."

Looking down into his palm Tony realized that Peter had saved the Iron Man ornament for last and laughed. "Sure, kid.", he said as twirled it around in his fingers and made his way towards the tree. "What about the star? We did get a star right?", he asked, realizing that at some point he'd stopped paying attention to what the kid was putting into the cart. 

"Of course", Peter replied with a laugh as he pulled the star out of the last unpacked bag. "We picked the cool LED one remember?"

"Right.", Tony said with a nod of his head even though he didn't remember. "Is it time to put that on now?"

"Yep!", Peter replied with a smiled as he hopped up onto the wall to crawl towards the top of the tree before flipping back down onto the floor. "Done.", he said with finality as he stood up a little bit taller. "I like it. Do you like it too? I mean really like it? I know you wanted to to be all perfect and all but--"

"--This is perfect, Pete.", Tony quickly cut in. Not just to save Peter's feelings but because it was. Then as he looked around the large room he realized that something was missing. It suddenly seemed odd to have only decorated one corner of the room and for no good reason, he wanted to rectify that. "well, this corner is perfect. I think we need to do something with the rest of the room. What do you think?"

Peter looked around the now seemingly barren room and agreed. "We don't have anything else though and I don't have time to go back to the store with you. I have school tomorrow.", Peter said with a sigh. "Can we do that tomorrow instead of working in the lab?"

"I suppose we could for a while...", Tony said with a shrug of his shoulders. "...but we really need to make sure the heater in your suit is functioning properly. They're calling for snow this week.", he added with seriousness. He really didn't want the, decidedly cold-natured, kid to be stuck out in that kind of weather without a reliable way to stay warm. "I don't want you to turn into a spidey-sicle and--"

"--That gives me an even better idea!", Peter interrupted causing Tony to quirk an eyebrow in mild confusion.

"...the heater or the spidey-sicle...?", Tony asked with humor because he wasn't sure how anything he'd just said had anything to do with decorating in any capacity.

"No, the snow!", Peter laughed. "You have a whole wall that's nothing but windows. We could make snowflakes to hang on them!"

"What do you mean by... 'make snowflakes'?", Tony asked, the confused expression having yet to leave his face. 

At this point, Peter was practically bouncing on his toes as he began to vaguely explain the gist of the project. "With Paper and scissors. You, like, fold up the paper and cut them out."

Having finally caught on to where this was going, Tony smirked. "Not lasers?", he teased, "Might make it go faster."

"No.", Peter adamantly declined but there was a smile still playing at his lips. "Scissors. Definitely scissors."

Feigning disappointment, Tony waved Peter off with a roll of his eyes. "Fine. You go gather the supplies, I'll make us something to eat. If I'm hungry, you must be starving.", he said before going into the pantry to find something that he could throw together quickly.

After having finished an entire pot of spaghetti between the two of them, Peter set to work teaching Tony how to fold the paper and make precise cuts in order to create the symmetrical designs. Tony being Tony, took right to it and got the hang of it quickly. That meant that while Peter was looking up templates for how to make themed patterns, his mentor was easily creating his own. They spent a good hour clipping and cutting until they'd created what had to have been over forty snowflakes and once they were all taped in place, they stood back to take it all in. 

It may not have been a professional job but Tony was pretty sure he wouldn't have it any other way. "It looks great, kid. You did a really good job.", he said as he wrapped an arm around the boy's shoulders.

"Thanks but you helped too.", Peter said with a smile. It did look good. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen so many highly detailed paper snowflakes at once. "I can't believe you figured out how to make Avengers and Iron Man snowflakes. The cuts were so tiny...", he added with awe as he pointed towards the most elaborate one of them all.

"I'm an engineer, kid. Steady hands.", Tony replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "...but don't sell yourself short. The Darth Vader one you made is pretty good too."

"Maybe.", Peter mildly agreed because he was proud of that one. It had taken a few tries but it looked good once he figured out where he was going wrong. "Thank you for letting me help you decorate, Tony"

"Thank you for reminding me that _I should_ decorate.", Tony said with a small smile. It was nice having someone around to remind him that it was okay to be happy sometimes. It was right about then that he realized that the sun had set completely and it was probably getting fairly late. "Now, it's getting late, kiddo. You should head home.", he said with a sigh.

"I guess I should.", Peter returned with a smile before taking off down the hall to quickly change back into his spider-suit. However, he returned moments later running full speed towards the balcony preparing himself to shoot a web and dive off with grace. ...but not before biding Tony a quick farewell. "See you later, Tony! Merry Christmas!" 

[_Sixteen more sleeps until christmas_]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On a side note: It's my brithday. I am officially basically old now. But you know, thirty-nine is the new... um... twenty-five? Sure. Why not. We'll go with that. I'm totally twenty-five today.


	5. Snowball War

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friday, December 13th

It was Friday afternoon and Peter was pretty sure, that the day couldn't get any better. Not only had it started to snow the night before but he'd also gotten a message from Tony at lunch that he should stop by after school. Apparently his presence was required for some sort of team-building exercise and if that was anything like the one that had taken place in the fall, he was all for it. Even if it was just shoveling snow off of the driveway and scraping icicles from around the front door. Being invited to spend the afternoon with the Avengers was awesome.

The moment he arrived, Peter darted towards the door. He wanted to get inside as quickly as possible because he'd received another message just a few short minutes before his arrival telling him that everyone was waiting for him and he really didn't want to be the one holding anything up. However before he could make it to the door, his spider senses began to buzz and he was reaching his hand out, in one smooth motion, to catch a snowball that had been pelted at him. Then as he looked down at the icy crystals that were now coating his gloved hand another flew his way but this one landed squarely on the back of his neck causing him to shout in surprise.

"Oh my God, that was cold! What the actual--", he started but before he could finish, Tony was standing before him frowning.

"--Do_ not_ finish that sentence, Parker.", Tony mildly chastised. Typically he wouldn't go so far as to correct anyone about their language but Cap was _right there_ and he didn't want to be accused of being a _bad influence_.

"Huh?", Peter responded in confusion before the reason for the correction clicked and he felt the need to rapidly explain himself. "Oh! I wasn't going to say _that_. I was going to say 'heck. What the actual _heck_."

Tony huffed and laugh and smiled at the hurried reply. "Sure you were.", he teased even though, now that he thought about it, he knew that was true. He'd never once, ever actually heard the kid curse. 

"I was!", Peter defended with hands now crossed firmly over his chest. "I've never--", he started but by that point, Steve had already crossed the snow-covered lawn and was looking between the two of them with amusement.

"--Tony, leave the boy alone.", Steve said, interrupting Peter's defense in favor of getting things started. It was already after four, they didn't have much daylight left. "Peter, you're just in time to pick teams."

"Oh, there's no picking teams.", Tony replied as he pulled Peter towards him by the elbow. "The kid's with me. We're a team. You don't get to decide."

Rolling his eyes, Steve sighed. "I was _trying_ to make_ two_ teams. Were you planning on it being just the two of you against everyone else?", he asked with his eyebrows raised.

Having not really thought that through, Tony shrugged his shoulders while keeping his face as neutral as possible. "Sure, why not. We can handle it, right kiddo?", he replied, gesturing towards Peter and hoping the kid would back him up.

Looking back and forth between the two adults, Peter hesitated. "I don't know... handle what exactly?", he asked because he wasn't one hundred percent sure what he was being signed up for. Especially now that he realized he was surrounded by _every single one of the avengers_. That and Steve had said 'against' and that made it sound like maybe they weren't going to be just shoveling snow after all. 

"Snowball fight.", Steve replied with a grin but when the look of confusion never left Peter's face he chuckled. "It's a good way to practice stealth while having fun as a team. We were going to have two teams of four but now I guess we'll go for four teams of two. I'm with Sam. Natasha and Clint. Rhodes, you can back Bruce up.", he announced and when he heard Rhodes groan int the background, he glared in the man's direction. "Oh stop whining, he can use all the help he can get. You know he--" 

"--I resent that!", Bruce indignantly cut in. He could throw a snowball for criminy's sake. That and it wasn't like he was completely inept when it came to strategy or teamwork.

From there the entire group broke into several bickering conversations but Peter was far too occupied with trying to make sense of everything to properly appreciate or enjoy it. Not because he'd never been in a snowball fight before. He'd lived in New York his whole life. It was more the fact that a bunch of grown superheroes would engage in such an activity and then go so far as to call it 'practice' that had him baffled. "The avengers have snowball fights... for practice...?"

"We do now.", Tony replied without missing a beat before tugging Peter towards the corner of the yard, Steve had apparently just pointed them towards. "Come on, kid, we need to start building our fortress. We have thirty minutes to make it impenetrable and stock some ammo.", he said with glee and all Peter could do was follow behind him. Once they got to their assigned space, Tony began to rattle off multiple instructions at once, leaving Peter nodding his head and trying to keep up. "Look, if you use your superstrength I bet you could press this until it was practically solid ice.", Tony suggested once he'd began drawing out a baseline for the wall.

Having never really considered using his superstrength for anything quite like that, Peter sighed and gave it a try. Sure it enough he was able to pack the snow into a fairly sturdy brick. "Like this?", he asked once he was fairly sure he had formed it into a good shape and size.

"Yup.", Tony replied, making a point of popping the 'p' at the end, once he'd gotten a good look at the new building material. "You make bricks, I'll start building."

The continued to quickly throw together a three-sided wall and as Peter looked around them it seemed they had the most cohesive structure. It wasn't tall by any means but it was far more structurally sound than what anyone else had thrown together. Then just as they were starting to pile up dozens of snowballs Steve was standing in the middle of the lawn holding his hands around his mouth and shouting a warning, "Five minutes until the fight begins!", he began before bringing his attention down to his pocket watch and waiting. "Alright, everyone! On my count... and be courteous! No headshots!", he shouted only to be interrupted by a snowball hitting him directly on the back of his head. "Ow!-- Who threw that!"

Everyone laughed but there was also a sudden burst of energy across the field as everyone scrambled towards their forts and began to aimlessly toss around large clumps of snow. "That was a declaration of war!", Clint shouted, thus owning up to the direct hit on Steve.

"...and there's more where that came from!", Natasha added from some unknown area. Her voice was carrying clearly but she was nowhere to be seen. It was weird. 

"You heard the man, kid. Let's go!", Tony shouted as he began to aim towards Bruce and Rhodes' less than impressive defenses. "With good enough aim I think we can take them out pretty quick."

"I think we'd be better off taking out Mr. Barton and Ms. Romanoff, Tony.", Peter said as he repeatedly ducked the multiple shots in his direction. It _felt_ like they were the ones hitting the hardest at the moment but it was also sort of _hard to tell_. It seemed like _everyone_ was aiming at him but before he could decide, he heard Rhodes shouting across the yard.

"The first one to hit the spider-kid gets to pick the movie tonight!", Rhodes declared and if everyone wasn't aiming at him before, they definitely were after that.

"Aw, come on! That's not even fair!", Peter laughed but he could see Tony looking around in annoyance.

"That's cheating!", Tony argued towards Steve who had made it very clear that he was in charge. "They're ganging up on us. How is that okay?"

Peter who had resigned himself to his fate, carried on with his evasive movements while simultaneous getting a few shots in himself. "It's fine, Tony. I've got this.", he huffed out between sidesteps. "Besides... all's fair in love and war. Right?"

"I don't think so.", Tony grumbled as he leaned back against the cold wall and readied himself to stand up and attempt to take out Rhodes at _least._ However, when he missed his every attempt he got an idea and smiled in such a way that Peter was beginning to become concerned. They were both tucked behind the safety of the wall, Peter making new ammunition and Tony... turning the face of his watch to activate his gauntlet.

"What are you doing!", Peter asked in near horror but Tony just smiled back at him for a moment. "Tony, seriously... what are you doing?", he asked again as the man began to fiddle with the settings.

Then, as Tony brought himself hurriedly to his feet, he drew his hand back and yelled, "The kid's right! All's fair in love and war!", right before Rhodes was being pegged in the shoulder by Tony who had been able to hit him with a servo-assisted throw. That led to a whole new set of rules as one by one the various heroes took off towards the building to arm themselves. Soon snowballs were being attached to blunt-tipped arrows, Rhodes was fully suited up and shooting out small rapid-fire snowballs and Natasha somehow figured out how to set some sort of crazy land mines that blew snow up in the air when you stepped on them. 

It was a hot mess and the most fun they'd had together in ages. Then of course, Captain Kill-joy had to step in... "Guys! That's enough! This is supposed to about teamwork.", he exclaimed loudly but not loudly enough for anyone to pay him any mind. At this point, there were no longer any teams to speak of. It had quickly become something of a free for all. Even Peter had turned against Tony and was taking great pleasure in covering his mentor in snow.

After a while, the Snowfall started to go from light flurries to something much heavier. With the sun was hanging low in the sky, the temperature was starting to fall and Peter was growing colder and colder by the minute. Not having his suit on meant that there was no heater to assist him and eventually he had to give in, still laughing. "I'm done! I'm done...", he panted while holding his hands up in surrender. 

Noticing how the boy was shivering, Tony held his hands up as well, though unlike Peter, snowballs continued to be thrown his direction but he took it all in good stride. "If Spider-boy's out, I'm out too.", he said as he began to brush some of the newly fallen flakes from his shoulders. 

"It's getting pretty cold out here. We should probably all call it quits.", Steve said as he brushed his hands together in an attempt to knock off some of the ice that had caked onto his gloves.

"Call it a draw?", Rhodes shouted out from a distance but all that comment managed to do was to start up a whole new round of bickering. Everyone wanted to be crowned the winner while claiming everyone else was cheating. It was amusing and for a while, Peter stood there with his arms wrapped around his chest and teeth chattering as he listened in with a smile. 

_"...No way! I won by a mile. I had to have nailed every single one of you at least fifty times..."_

_"...You didn't even throw them! You used a bow!..."_

_"..You created snow mines! Snow mines!..."_

_"...You can't call it a draw when everyone wasn't playing at the same level..."_

_"...Hey! I think I was doing alright, considering..."_

_"...Ah... Come on!... Knock it off, everyone!"_

_"..Yeah... but what about Tony! He had his gauntlet..."_

_"...It was a game, people!"_

_"... I think a draw really is the way to go. It's not like we were keeping score!..."_

After a while, Tony wrapped his arm around Peter's shoulder and leaned in to be heard over the shouting. "Come on, Kiddo, let's leave them to the technicalities. If we hurry, we can get warmed, get back downstairs, pick the movie _and have half of the pizza eaten_ before they even begin to settle this.", he said and Peter nodded in agreement. ...and not one person noticed as they quietly slipped inside. 

[_Twelve more sleeps until Christmas_]


	6. Hot chocolate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tuesday, December 17th

When Peter skipped into the lab on Tuesday, he was somewhat surprised that Tony didn't acknowledge his entrance. Even after he'd put down his backpack, tossed his snack wrapper and made his way in and out of the connecting bathroom, the man said nothing. He didn't even lift his head. It was as if he were somewhere else completely. "Hey, Tony?", he asked with trepidation but it seemed that the man hadn't been expecting anyone causing him to violently flinch at the sound of his name. 

"Christ!", Tony shouted as he grabbed his chest and looked the boy over. "What are you doing here?"

Suddenly worried that he's missed some sort of message, Peter wavered a little in his reply. "I, um... I mean, it's Tuesday?"

"Today is Tuesday?", Tony repeated stupidly before dropping his head down onto his desk. "Of course, it's a Tuesday, why wouldn't it be a Tuesday?", the man grumbled seemingly to no one and Peter was starting to get a bit antsy.

"I'm sorry... was I not supposed to come today?", Peter asked quietly as he took a few steps back towards his backpack. Now that he was looking around the room it was obvious that the man hadn't left it in some time. There were food cartons, still filled with untouched meals, crushed cans everywhere and Tony looked like a wreck. His hair was everywhere and his clothes were wrinkled as if he'd been wearing them for more than a day.

"No, you're fine, kid. It's fine. I just didn't realize that today fell on a Tuesday. I guess I should have, though.", Tony replied as he ran a tired hand over his face and took a deep breath. "You can... you can, uh... work on whatever you want. I'll be over here.", he added, pointing towards a desk in the very back of the room.

Unsure of how to proceed, Peter followed directions and sat down at his desk, watching as Tony collected his things and made his way towards the back of the room. He was certain it had nothing to do with him because if it had, the man would have said so. He didn't exactly hold back when it came to lecturing and frankly he couldn't think of anything his mentor could currently be mad at him about. 

So he sat there for several minutes working on his homework and periodically glancing back towards Tony. As he did so, tossed the mans' words around in his head. He'd said he didn't realize that 'today fell on a Tuesday' and between that cryptic statement and his mentor's disheveled appearance he became curious. Not wanting to draw attention to his inquiry, Peter casually walked over to the console that would allow him to send messages to FRIDAY without having to talk to her out loud. 'What is today and why is Tony acting weird?', he typed, waiting patiently for a response.

'Today is Tuesday, December the seventeenth.', the AI provided and before she could finish scripting her reply, it hit him. Peter knew the significance of that date and sighed heavily before hitting clearing the console and going back to his desk. It made sense now. Tony had probably been in the lab for over a day in an attempt to distract himself from the gravity that the recent date held. The day prior had been the anniversary of Tony's parent's death and Peter could wholeheartedly sympathize. April thirteenth, the day he learned that his parent's plane had crashed would never be the same for him again, nor would June ninth, the day he'd lost his uncle.

For a while, he sat there and rather than concentrating on his History notes or writing his English essay, he continued to watch Tony run his hands through his hair and rub at his eyes as if he hadn't slept in days. At some point, he made his way over to where the man was working and sighed. "What are you working on, Tony?", he asked carefully.

"Huh?", Tony asked without ever looking up and Peter easily repeated his question. "Oh. It's uh... it's... well, it's complicated.", he vaguely explained and Peter wondered if he even knew what he was working on anymore. He'd not seen him actually do anything of value since he'd arrived. He'd mostly sighed, grunted in frustration and flipped through the holographic blueprints. "I'll show it to you when I'm done."

Peter nodded his head and looked at the man who's yet to look at him, since he'd crossed the room. "Maybe we should take a break. I mean, maybe we could do something else for a while.", he suggested but the words come out sounding small and hesitant. He'd not meant for them too but the way that seemed to get the man's full attention on his gave him an idea. One that would undoubtedly get the man out of the lab and maybe even get him to eat... or rest. "I, um... I don't feel so good.", he said and the man's eyes went from concerned to something much softer as he reached out and rested the back of his hand on his forehead.

"You don't feel warm.", Tony observed out loud but he knew that if Peter was admitting that he didn't feel well, he must be extremely uncomfortable. "What's going on?"

Taking a moment to mentally collect a list of ailments that couldn't be verified he, cleared his throat. "I don't know. I just feel tired and sore. ...and my head kind of hurts, maybe, maybe my throat too. ...but just a little bit.", he replied. He'd considered tagging nausea onto the list but thought better of it. He'd want to eat later and the man wasn't likely to give him much more than crackers if he laid claim to an upset stomach.

Tony sighed and once again ran his hand over the boy's head and down to the back of his neck. "Probably coming down with a cold or something.", he said as he looked between the useless distraction he'd set himself up with and the miserable looking kid beside him. "Let's go upstairs.", he finally proposed with a defeated sigh, hoping that he could get the kid settled and return to his work before any unpleasant memories had time to creep back into his head.

Agreeing with a small nod of his head, Peter followed the man upstairs, trying not to smile the whole way. He was actually pretty shocked that his plan was working at all, let alone with so quickly. It wasn't until the man had wrapped him in several blankets and offered him a bottle of water and two tablets that he hit his first problem. He didn't exactly want to take anything for his non-existent headache. "I don't think I need that yet.", he said quietly and sighed in relief when Tony retracted his hand and placed the pills back into their bottle.

"Alright, I suppose you want every blanket I own on the couch with you though, right?", he asked, remembering that the last time the kid didn't feel well he'd bundled himself up in so many blankets that he looked like he was drowning in them.

Peter nodded his head and smiled. "...and maybe some hot chocolate.", he replied and Tony while seemingly hesitant, went ahead and agreed. Returning moments later with several blankets, that Peter immediately crawled under, and then proceeded to disappear into the kitchen. 

When he returned, Peter ran into his next problem. Tony had only made _one_ cup of hot chocolate. "Where's yours?", he asked as casually as possible. He wasn't trying to get himself caught.

"I don't need any. I'm going back down to the lab.", Tony said with a sigh. "...but if you need anything else, FRIDAY can let me know. I'll come right back."

Swallowing hard, Peter had to think quick. The whole point of faking sick was to get Tony to _sit down_. He was trying to get out of homework or lab work or anything else. "I guess I... Well, I thought you would stay.", he replied, trying his best to sound completely disappointed but Tony seemed unfazed. 

"Look, kid. I know you wanted me to stay up here but--", he started because he'd sort of assumed that the boy was going to try and get him to sit down with him. He just wasn't sure _he could_. He typically spent all of December sixteenth... and the next several days that followed it... sulking in the workshop, avoiding the need to acknowledge any of it. If his mind and hands were busy with work, he didn't have to think about the phone call, newspaper articles, the funeral or his parents... _his mom_.

"--I know but I would _feel better_ if you stayed.", Peter quickly cut in before his mentor could get any further. "I just really want you to stay with me. _...Please_?", he repeated but this time it came out much quieter and with far more urgency. Mostly because he really didn't want Tony to be alone. He knew from experience that these kinds of days hurt less when they were shared with someone else.

At this point, Tony could hear the pleading in Peter's tone and rubbed his hand roughly over his bearded chin. He knew Peter had a tendency to be a bit clingy at times but he wasn't sure he was feeling up to it at the moment. "Pete, I...", he stated but he couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence because he was suddenly feeling selfish. Then, he took another deep breath and tried to smile. "Alright, one more cup of hot chocolate coming up."

It didn't take long for him to return to the couch, to find Peter flipping through Christmas movies. "Which one, Tony?", Peter asked with a smile. "...and yes it has to be a Christmas movie. It's the rules."

Tony scoffed and set his hot mug down on the table beside Peter's. "You and your movie rules.", he teased as he pulled back the corner of the blankets where Peter had scooted over to make room for him. "Pick whatever you want.", he added as he repositioned himself in order to accommodate Peter's weight as he leaned up against him.

At some point during the movie, Peter looked towards, Tony who seemed to be staring off into space and attempted to get his attention. "Hey, Tony?"

"Yeah, Kid?", Tony asked as he brought his attention back to the boy beside him.

"What are we going to do for dinner?", Peter asked because it was already after six and he was basically starving. 

Tony looked at his watch and made a noise that seemed to indicate that he'd completely lost track of the hour. "I guess it is about that time.", he said before reaching over to check Peter's head for fever once more. "You feel good enough for that?"

"Mm-hmm. Just tired.", Peter readily agreed. "I'm fine."

"Well, still no fever so that's good.", Tony said as he gently pushed Peter off of his side and stood up to stretch. "I'll order something light, though. How about some soup and sandwiches?", he asked knowing the kid loved deli sandwiches anyway and who knows? Maybe he would be able to force himself to eat some too. 

Peter nodded his head and scooted over so that he was sitting in the warm spot his mentor had just abandoned ."That sounds good. Can we have more hot chocolate after?", he asked with a smile, already knowing that they could. Ever since he'd mentioned how much he liked it, there seemed to be an endless supply in the man's kitchen and it was always the best money could buy.

"Sure. More hot chocolate after."

Later than evening after everything was eaten and the two of them were back to sipping at warm mugs while tucked under the blankets, Peter let out a satisfied hum. They were well into their next movie and this time, Tony seemed to be following along and laughing in all the right places. Though he was still periodically reaching over to feel his head and asking him how he was feeling. At some point, he started to feel just the tiniest bit _guilty_ about his lie and decided it was best to come clean. "Hey, Tony?", he asked after the man had asked FRIDAY about his temperature for the umpteenth time that night.

"Yeah, Buddy?", Tony asked softly as he set his now empty mug down on the table in front of him.

Twisting his mouth and biting his lip in hesitation, Peter began to fidget with the edge of the blanket he was holding. "I'm, um, I'm, I'm not really sick.", he anxiously confessed. He just hoped the man wouldn't be _too_ upset with him for the small mistruth. He'd had good intentions, after all.

Tony huffed a laugh and pulled Peter more closely into his side before looking down at him with a smile. "I know."

"You do?", Peter asked in disbelief because the man had never once let on that he knew he was faking. He'd been offering him medicine and humoring him all afternoon. He'd even gone so far so to incessantly feel his head and order soup for dinner. "Wait... when did you--How?", he finally sputtered while continuing to wrack his brain for what could have given him away.

Laughing lightly, Tony turned off the television and took Peter's mug from him before the last of the warm beverage ended up all over the couch. "About the time you asked for hot chocolate instead of apple cider or ginger ale or something.", Tony replied with a smirked. 

"Oh.", Peter flatly returned. He had no idea what to do with this information because apparently Tony had been playing along all afternoon. He didn't even know why.

"Yeah, 'Oh'.", Tony chuckled. "You know you can't lie to me. ...not for long anyway. I always figure you out."

Peter nodded his head and cringed a little. The man did seem to _always_ know when he was lying. It was weird but not really his current concern. "Are you mad?", he asked nervously. 

"No. I actually think it's really nice of you to want to cheer me up.", Tony softly replied. "I can't think of one other person who's ever tried quite this hard to do that for me."

Those words washed over Peter like the greatest compliment of all time before he looked up and the man and smiled. "Did it work?"

Taking a minute to gather his thoughts, Tony scooted down a little further on the couch so that Peter's head rested more comfortably onto his shoulder and sighed. "I think it did. I'd be hard-pressed not to cheer up while snuggled up on the couch with hot chocolate and Christmas movies...", he said, hoping that the 'with you' he'd been thinking was implied but the way Peter was smiling told him that it probably was. "So, thank you."

"Any time.", Peter honestly replied before taking a page out of his mentor's book and throwing in a teasing quip. "...as long as there's more hot chocolate involved."

Tony laughed and gave Peter a firm squeeze as he smiled fondly in his direction. Then, just like that, he realized that while he'd not forgotten what day it was, the feelings of loss that typically came with it were no longer as raw and painful. Instead, he was fully focused on the kid that was still sitting so closely beside him and sighed contentedly. "Always, more hot chocolate, kiddo. Always." 

[Eight_ more_ sleeps_ until Christmas_]


	7. Gingerbread

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thursday, December 19th

"Hey, kid. You're late.", Tony called out across the lab when he heard the doors slide open. However, it wasn't until he looked up several seconds later that he realized why. "What do you have there, Pete?", he asked with amusement as the boy began to line a few bags up along the table near the door.

"I have a project for us to do.", Peter said with a smile.

"Oh, yeah? Like what?", Tony asked in return as he began to cross the room to see what sort of project required three_ very large_ grocery store bags. 

"I bought some gingerbread dough...", Petre replied with glee. "...and all the candy and we could possibly need."

Glancing into the bags that sure enough held a large amount of dough and what could have been several pounds of candy, Tony quirked an eyebrow. "Gingerbread men?

"Hm-mm. A house. I want to make a house, Tony.", Peter replied getting more and more excited as he spoke. "I've never done before but I figured that you would be really good at it so I thought we could try it.", he explained as he bounced on his toes and waited to see his mentor's reaction. 

"Kid... Why would you think I would be good at baking?", Tony said with a laugh. The closest he'd ever gotten to baking was to place a frozen pie in the oven and even then it had burned a little around the edges. It was one of the few things he could say he_ didn't_ know how to do.

"Well, not that part.", Peter returned with a laugh of his own. He was well aware that Tony lived and breathed takeout. When he did cook it was sandwiches or heating up some jarred spaghetti sauce. "That's why I got already made dough. I thought you would be really good at _designing it_ and, you know, _making it work. _Engineer stuff."

Still feeling a little hesitant about the idea of having to _actually bake_ the cookie parts, Tony sighed. "Can't you buy already baked kits? We could go out and get one of those. More if you want..."

"Yeah, Tony, but I thought this would be more fun.", Peter said with a shrug of his shoulders. He'd spent the entire day trying to imagine what sort of insane layout his mentor would come up with. If it was anything like his pumpkin or snowflake... it would be awesome. "Now we can design it to look like whatever we want it too. We could make a crazy detailed gingerbread Eiffle Tower or London Bridge if we wanted too."

"... I thought you said you wanted to make _a house_...", Tony laughed.

"I do!", Peter defended. "I was just saying that we could make those other things because tt's not a pre-made kit.", Peter explained and that seemed to be enough to get Tony one board because he was no long crossing his arms over his chest. Rather, he was smiling softly and sighing in resignation. 

"What sort of house are we making, Kiddo?", Tony asked as he once again started looking through the bags, taking mental notes or everything they had to work with. 

Peter grinned ear to ear and began to throw out a few ideas, waving his hands around in the process, Tony smiling at him the whole time. "Something awesome. Maybe we can make it have two stories or three! ...and a balcony or something. I wonder if we could make, like, a pool or something with frosting and the blue sugar sprinkles stuff.--"

  
"--Or...", Tony started, cutting his mentee off in his excited ramblings. "...we could make the compound.", he a said with a grin. Surely that fit the bill. It was a home... well, part of it was a home... it was complex and it sounded like something the kid would have fun trying to build. 

"I don't know. That would be pretty big... and there's a lot of, like, curves and stuff.", Peter said with skepticism even though every ounce of his being was practically vibrating with excitement because that actually sounded really awesome. He just wasn't sure about the practicality. He'd been imagining something a little more... square.

Tony held up his hands in defense and laughed. "You said you wanted it to be awesome and what's more awesome than the compound?", he said as he waved his hands vaguely around the room. When Peter began to vigorously nod his head in enthusiasm, Tony clapped his hands together and clapped the boy firmly on the shoulder. "That's what I thought. Now, what do we need to do first?"

"We need to know how many pieces to cut the dough into... and what shape.", Peter replied as he ran towards his bag to get a pencil and some paper so that they could get started. "We need a design before we can do anything else."

"Easy Peasy.", Tony said with a smirk, ignoring the paper being held out towards him. "FRIDAY? Be a dear and bring up the schematics for the compound?", he asked, taking a half of a step back when the image was projected in front of him. After that, he was swiftly waving his hands in the air and moving things around with the AI's assistance. "Great now remove everything that's not part of the living and recreation quarters...Perfect, now get rid of that... highlight the edges for me?...", he instructed before pinching the entire image between his hands as if he were trying to crush is. "Now scale it down to... I don't know... let's say 1:116 to start.", he wavered before nodding his head in approval at the results. "What do you think?"

"I think that's insane.", Peter replied in awe as he looked at the somewhat simplified version of the compound's main buildings. "Let's do it."

"You heard the kid, FRIDAY, let's break this bad boy down into templates."

~o~o~o~o~o~

Once they were upstairs in the penthouse kitchen, Peter was carefully rolling out the dough to the prescribed thickness while Tony used an Exacto knife to cut out the, more than a dozen, shapes they would need in order to create their masterpiece. When there was dough leftover even after each part had been cut out in duplicate, just in case, they began to slowly move them onto the large cookie sheets that had been found covered in dust in the back of the pantry. "Now we wait.", Peter said with a smile once the last pan was in the oven.

"For how long?", Tony asked because he had no idea how long it took to actually bake cookies. When he had cookies they were baked for him by the pastry shop around the corner. 

"I don't know...", Peter said with a shrug of his shoulders. It wasn't like he was an expert either. "The package said fifteen to twenty-five minutes. I guess we just look at it and guess."

Rolling his eyes, Tony pulled himself up onto the counter to sit. "FRIDAY? Can you give us a heads up when the cookies are about done?", he requested, smirking when the AI confirmed his intention. That took some of the pressure off. IF anything got screwed up it was the AI's fault and not his. Of course, being the creator he supposed the blame could still fall on him but he was choosing to ignore that for the time being in favor of optimism. FRIDAY had never let him down before... "What are we doing while we wait, kiddo?"

Peter shrugged his shoulders and pulled open a large bag of red and green M&Ms, popping a few into his mouth without hesitation. "I don't know. It not really that much time.", he mumbled threw the chewed up candy but Tony couldn't understand one word of it.

"Come again?", he asked with humor as he watched the boy throw back another mouthful of chocolate. "Should I get you a bowl of milk and a spoon?" 

Once the most recent mouth full of chocolate was swallowed, Peter smiled. "As good as that sounds? No.", he replied with a laugh. "I want to use them decorate. The green ones would make a good lawn."

"A chocolate lawn huh?", Tony repeated for no other reason than to confirm that he was listening. Yet, Peter seemed to take it as skepticism and opted to alter his plans.

"You're right.", he said with a nod of his head as he pulled out a bag of marshmallow minis. "We should use the marshmallows. Then we can make it look like it's snowing.", he added before tossing several up in the air and catching them in his mouth with ease.

"Not if you keep eating it, we can't.", Tony returned with a laugh before grabbing an apple off of the counter and tossing it across the room. 

Without ever lifting his eyes from the pile of candy he was creating on the counter, Peter reached out and adeptly caught the fruit, with a quick, "Thanks." Then as he was finishing it up, he looked towards his mentor who was periodically glancing towards the oven as if he were expecting it to burst into flames at any moment. "You know tomorrow is my last day of school until next year, right?"

"No, but that makes sense. You spending any of that time here?", Tony asked sounding somewhat distracted. The smell of cookies was starting to permeate the room and he was sort of worried that despite having the AI tracking the bake time, they were going to burn without a moment's notice and that would mean starting all over again. 

"Mm-hmm. May said I can stay here some but she's also got a lot of vacation days to use up before January so she'll be home for a lot of it, which is cool.", Peter happily explained. With her working so often and him having so many responsibilities the synchronize time off meant they would be able to spend some extra time together. Can I swing by after school and stay the weekend?" Tony nodded his head in the positive. "Awesome. Are you done Christmas shopping?"

Completely unprepared for a question like that, Tony turned his head to meet eyes with his curious mentee. "Uh..." 

"What did you get Ms. Potts?", Peter asked, not really taking into account the look of mild panic on his mentor's face.

"Um...", Tony continued to hesitate and Peter suddenly caught on to what was going on.

"Tony! Christmas is in less than a week! You did get her something right?"

"It's on my list of things to do!", Tony snapped back before bringing his tone to something a little less harsh. Though, Peter seemed completely unperturbed by it as he started picking through the gumdrops, making a point of only eating the orange ones. "...and quit eating all the candy. I literally just gave you an apple. Do you want another one?"

"Maybe... can I have peanut butter with it?", Peter asked enthusiastically at about the same time the AI was announcing that the cookies were done.

"Why not...", Tony replied with a roll of his eyes as he picked up a couple of hand towels to use as oven mitts. "I'll get your cookies out of the oven."

_"Our_ cookies", Peter corrected with a smile and Tony huffed a laugh before reluctantly agreeing.

~o~o~o~o~o~

As it were, the cookies came out perfect and Tony found himself oddly proud of that even though he wasn't sure he could really take a whole lot of the credit. Either way, the various walls, and ceilings were cooled and the icing was made and they were ready to piece it all together. Only it wasn't as easy as that. At first, Peter was tasked with holding the walls together so that Tony could use the adhesive icing to fix them together. "Nice and steady", Tony encouraged as he expertly squeezed the icing along the corner only for it to fall apart the second Peter let go.

"I'm sorry!", Peter gasped more out of surprise than actual remorse. He'd not really expected that to happen. He assumed that once the edge was sealed he could let go.

"I think you need to hold on to it for a bit until it dries out some.", Tony observed as he began squishing a bit of the icing between his finger. "Let's try that again."

That time it went better. Peter held onto it for a full two minutes before letting go and the walls stood firmly together. "Nice.", he uttered quietly when the structure remained standing even as they began to adhere the next wall to it. It continued that way for a while. Everything was going perfectly. The design was perfect, the cookies turned out perfect and now the walls were fitting together perfectly. Which is why it came as such a surprise when the framework collapsed completely as the roof was placed on top. "Dang it!"

"It's fine, kid.", Tony placated as he began to pull the pieces apart again. "We've got this. Look we just need some more support walls.", he added as he began to break apart one of the extra cookies to set up in the middle in the hopes of preventing further structural damage.

Though that didn't really work either. Another thirty minutes later the walls were still falling every which way and nothing they did seemed to make the house any more sound. In fact, at this point, it was starting to crumble as well. When Peter grunted in mild frustration, Tony sighed. "I'm beginning to think that the crazy gingerbread houses you see pictures of are using some sort of glue to make it stand and then they're putting the royal icing over top of it for show."

"We're not going to do that though, right, Tony?", Peter asked in slight disappointment.

"I mean, maybe?", Tony replied, suddenly questioning his idea to do just that. He was pretty sure the plan had been to create an awesome house. To do that they appeared to need something a little stickier... "Hey! We could use your web fluid. That would be a creative use of materials.", Tony smirked but when Peter continued to look at him disapprovingly he threw his hands up in question. "Do you want it to look good?"

"I sort of wanted it to_ taste_ good too.", Peter grumbled quietly as he looked down at the icing covered cookie fragments and half-built sections.

Tony huffed a laugh and reached down to pick up one of the larger bits of cookie. "All this work and you were just going to eat it?", he asked in mirth.

"No... _We_ were going to eat it.", Peter replied with a smile. He'd had this all planned out. Make the house, take lots of pictures, eat it. "I was going to share it with you."

Still laughing lightly, Tony gestured towards the copious amounts of sugary decorations and the still half-filled piping bag of icing. "Why don't we just cover the cookie bits in frosting and candy and eat it how it is? Like, gingerbread nachos...", he asked because honestly, he wasn't sure they were going to ever get the thing built without some sort of non-food-grade adherent. 

"Because a pile of broken gingerbread topped with candy doesn't look cool.", Peter practically whined as Tony rolled his eyes at the childish response. "I wanted to have an awesome picture to post on Instagram."

After several moments of thought, Tony nodded his head and then pointed towards the mess on his kitchen counter. "Look, here's what we're gonna do, kiddo. You're going to start setting up the pieces that will still stand and decorate them. Don't worry about any holes or missing walls. I've got a plan. I'll be right back.", he announced before immediately turning towards the front door to dash down to the workshop to throw an idea together.

Completely baffled by his mentor's hasty exit, Peter attempted to call after him only to be quickly shut down. "Wait! What are you--"

"--just do it! I'll be right back.",Tony returned with a smile before closing the door behind himself.

Peter did as he was asked and managed to get the few larger chunks that had held together for them standing up. From there, he began to dot them with colorful candies. The more he added the better he felt about it even though he was still extremely disappointed in the lack of a completed cookie scale model of the Avenger's compound. He was pretty sure that there wouldn't have been another gingerbread house posted anywhere on the internet that could have compared to that. 

When Tony continued to take longer than he'd expected, Peter began to follow through with the original plan of using marshmallows to make a snow-covered lawn. Even going to far as to sprinkle it with sugar to make it look as though it were glistening. Then he went around the edges that still had a roof and added some dangling strings of icing to look as though there were icicles. After that, he stood back to look at it. While it did still look like the compound from certain angles, the gaps were glaring and he couldn't help but wonder what on Earth Tony had in mind that would fix that. However, he wasn't going to have to wait much longer to find out because Tony was walking back through the door seconds later with something hidden behind his back.

"You get you're part done?", Tony asked as he crossed the room in such a way, as to not give away what he was hiding. When he got close enough to inspect Peter's work he smiled. "Hey, this looks way better than I thought it would. You were able to salvage quite a bit of it!"

"I guess.", Peter replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "It still looks like it's falling apart though."

Tony nodded his head and used the hand not holding the still nondisclosed object behind his back to rub his chin. "Or...", he said thoughtfully. "Maybe it just looks like its been... I don't know... attacked or something."

Not sure where the man was going with this, Peter raised his eyebrows as a way of asking for further explanation. When that didn't work he tried to look behind Tony's back to see what he was holding. "What are you talking about? ...and what are you hiding?", Peter asked but Tony able to dodge his every attempt to see what was in his hands.

"Nah-ah-ah", Tony tsked. "No nosey spider-kids looking behind my back. Close your eyes.-- No peeking!", he demanded and Peter did as he was asked but not without a huff.

Several minutes passed and Peter could hear, Tony shuffling around the room. When he was finally allowed to look he smiled. Then he laughed. The more he looked at all of the adjustments and additions the man had made to their gingerbread compound the more he loved it. "This is perfect! I never imagined that we could mess up so bad and still have the most awesome gingerbread creation on the planet!", he shouted with excitement while taking a multitude of pictures with his phone. "Come here and get in one of the pictures with me! I won't post this one. It's just for me.", he pressed and Tony readily complied.

Between their two smiling faces was the half-torn down cookie compound with a small LED adorned space ship sitting right in the middle of the biggest gap. All around it were several of the small Avengers figures that Peter had yet to take home with him. An Iron Man figure was placed in the most prominent spot, at the very top of the highest part of the building. The best part was that since there was no Spider-Man toy, Tony had made a few icing webs around the space ship to indicate that he'd been there.

All of the other pictures were immediately posted and unsurprisingly took off with comments from all over the place. Peter read the more interesting ones out loud as they ate through the creation together while Christmas music played lightly in the background. While some of the comments were negative, most of them were full of praise but there was one that seemed to have Peter laughing with delight. "What's so funny, kid?", Tony asked out of curiosity when the laughter didn't die down after a second or two.

Peter grinned and looked down at his phone once more before giggling, "This one comment. _It's the best."_

_"_Okay...", Tony replied with mild confusion. "Care to share it with the rest of the class?", he asked smiling at the way Peter was smiling and trying to hold back another fit of giggles. "Well?", Tony questioned once more with a laugh that turned into a roll of his eyes when Peter finally answered him.

"It says... A-Gingers Assemble." 

"Well, _that's_ enough internet for you tonight.", Tony said with a shake of his head as he tried to pry the phone from Peter's sticky fingers. "Now, go get your stuff together, it's late, you have school tomorrow, I'll drive you home."

Peter nodded his head and did as he was instructed. When he was ready they made their way down to one of Tony's cars where Peter climbed into the passenger side and looked towards his mentor. "Thanks for making it work. It really was awesome."

"It really was.", Tony agreed. "Send me a copy of the picture you took of the two of us, alright?"

The man had never asked for him to send him any of the pictures he took of them together before. Not even one and for some reason that request made Peter feel exceptionally special at the moment. Smiling, mostly to himself, he quickly sent the image and looked at the man beside him. Then, all of a sudden, he knew exactly what he wanted to make the man for Christmas... He just hoped he had time.

_[Six more sleeps until_ Christmas]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one and the next one are my favorite two chapters in this hot mess. Then again... I still have one more to write. 😊 So who knows? Maybe it will be my favorite too.


	8. The Perfect Gift

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Saturday, December 21th

"Get up kid. We're going out.", Tony announced as he walked right into Peter's room unannounced. When all Peter did was groan and pull the duvet over his head he rolled his eyes. "Come on, seriously. It's already ten, it's not like I didn't let you sleep in."

"Where are we going?", Peter grumbled into his pillow. As far as he knew, there were no plans for the day. If he had, he definitely wouldn't have stayed up until two in the morning finishing the super-secret gift he'd been meticulously putting togeher for Tony. "...and _why_ are we going. I'm _tired_."

Tony rolled his eyes again as he peeled the blankets back off of the kid's head and snapped his fingers in order to get the boy to look up at him. "Well, as you _so kindly pointed out_ the other day...", he replied with a mild glare. "...I've not gotten anything for Pepper yet and Christmas in less than a week.", he continued before clapping his hands together and motioning for Peter to sit up. "So, up and at 'em we're going to the mall."

He may not have been wide awake yet but Peter was fairly sure his mentor had just said they were _going to the mall_ and that didn't sound like a place the man would typically go. "_You're_ going to the mall?", he asked in utter confusion. Tony had been antsy about being spotted in a little country store not even two months ago and now all of a sudden he was okay with going ice skating and shopping in an overly-crowded shopping center?

"No... _We're_ going to the mall.", Tony clipped back with a smile. "Which I assumed you would enjoy, by the way. Now get up. We can eat lunch there."

"Fine.", Peter tiredly replied. The man wasn't wrong, he did like the mall, especially the food court. That thought alone had his stomach growling. "...but only if I can get a pretzel _and_ one of those big cinnamon rolls with lunch."

"We'll see.", Tony came back quickly, brushing the ultimatum off in favor of issuing some terms and conditions of his own. "Now hurry up and get out of your PJ's so we can get going. I'm leaving without you in thirty."

"No, you're not.", Peter said as he sat up in bed to scowl at his mentor. However, the expression came off looking just about as menacing as a pink frosted cupcake, making Tony laugh.

"You're right, I'm not...", the man chuckled before bringing his face back to neutral and placing his finger right in the middle of Peter's chest. "...but me buying you a cinnamon roll is highly dependant on you being ready to walk out the door when I am. Capisce?"

~o~o~o~o~o~

A little over an hour later, Tony and Peter were sitting at a table in an overly-crowded food court eating bland Chinese food because that's what had the shortest line. "You know, kid... We could have had cheesesteaks or gyros... or literally _anything but this._"

"You could have gotten something else.", Peter replied as he continued to shovel the underseasoned fried rice into his mouth at a rapid rate. "...but I was starving. Besides, it's not that bad, Tony. The eggroll was pretty good."

Tony nodded his head even though he didn't agree and pushed the remainder of his serving towards Peter so that he could finish it. "Anyway...", he began while tugging his hat down over his eyes. "...I need to get Pepper something and you're going to help me. So start thinking."

Nodding his head, Peter began to scrape the last of the food from his plate before picking the things that he liked out of what was left of Tony's. "Why do you need my help? Isn't she, like, your girlfriend or something? Shouldn't you know what to get her?", he asked because as much as he loved going to the mall, he had no idea why the man thought he needed his help with this.

"Because she always complains that I go '_overboard'_. That's where you come in.", Tony said with annoyance and Peter couldn't help but smile a little. 

"So, I'm here to make sure that you don't buy the entire mall or something like that...?", Peter asked teasingly but he could totally see that. The man had threatened to buy him his weight in ice cream just for _calling him by his first name_... and then _actually did it_. There were _still_ several ten-gallon barrels of icecream in the compound's walk-in freezer. 

"Sure. Something like that...", Tony replied with a shrug of his shoulders. He wasn't planning on going into details but he should have known he wasn't going to get away with _that. _

"What did you get for her before?", Peter asked out of curiosity. He was pretty sure that whatever it was had to have been nearly insane for the man to request any kind of help. 

Tony adjusted the straw in his cup and took a few sips before clearing his throat and looking casually around the food court. "I, uh... Well, there was this one year that I got her a fifteen-foot stuffed rabbit but last year, _last year_... I got her Pandora."

"Like paying for the subscription on the music app?", Peter asked in surprise because that actually sounded fairly reasonable. "That doesn't sound that bad.", he mused. Something wasn't adding up.

Rolling his eyes, Tony held up one of his hands and waved it vaguely in the air. "No, not Pandora the music app. Pandora_ the jewelry._"

"So, you got her a bracelet or something? That doesn't sound that bad either...", Peter replied as he began to pile up their trash onto a tray so they could start walking. He still wasn't clear what they were looking for but they weren't going to find it at a table in the corner of the food court.

Before Peter could get too far, Tony grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around so that they were looking at each other. "No... you don't understand... _I got her Pandora_... as in the whole company...", he said as if that weren't any sort of big deal.

"I guess I can see the problem now.", Peter blandly returned before breaking away from the man's grasp to toss the trash and start walking towards the stand he'd been eyeing since they got there. "Can we go get a cinnamon roll?"

Sighing, Tony grabbed Peter by the shoulder once more and started to guide him away from the confections and towards the store line corridor. "Later, first we shop.", he announced and began to make a brisk pace towards the first store that didn't look like it was geared towards anyone under the age of twelve. "Now, help me out here. What am I buying, kid?"

"I don't know what to get her! I don't even know what she likes. I've only met her like twice.", Peter sputtered when the man made it sound as though he were being put in charge of the purchase. Up until that moment, he thought he was just sort of along for the ride. Maybe there to put the brakes on some ridiculous purchase at some point but he certainly wasn't prepared to make any sort of _decisions._

"Kid... you've definitely met her more than_ twic_e... you see her at least _twice a week_ when you go down to the SI offices.", Tony replied with a laugh. He knew for a fact, that Pepper made a point of stopping by to say 'hi' to the kid every time he was there just because she liked him. 

Glaring in his mentor's direction, Peter, huffed. "Yeah but I've only met her like, twice _not at work_. That's different.", he tried to explain but Tony wasn't hearing any of it.

"How is that--Never mind.", Tony continued to laugh before deciding that they were getting off track. The mall was crowded and he needed to make a decision. If for no other reason, than because he wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. "What did you get your aunt?"

"I made her some potholders.", Peter casually replied. 

"Really?", Tony asked but Peter just shrugged his shoulders. "Okay... What kind of stuff did your uncle use to get her for Christmas?", he asked instead. He wasn't really sure why he'd thought that asking the kid what he'd gotten his aunt for Christmas was going to help anyway. He was a kid for crying out loud. That and it wasn't like there were any stakes in his gift choice. She was _his aunt_. It was practically _her job_ to love whatever he gave her. 

"You know the little table in our kitchen?", Peter asked, pulling Tony from his thoughts.

"Yeah? Did he buy that for her?", Tony asked with slight surprise. 

Shaking his head, Peter smiled at the memory. "No, he _made_ it."

"Of course, he did.", Tony replied with yet another roll of his eyes and some mild frustration. He'd been hoping for a little bit more insight there. Though if he was being honest he wasn't the least bit surprised that he Parkers would build and create things for each other. If he hadn't waited until the last minute, maybe he would have considered doing the same for Pepper but it was too late for that. It had to be a purchase. There was always next year. "Let's just say that you had, somewhere around... _several billion of dollars_ to spend on your aunt... what would you get her?"

Peter had to give that question quite a bit of thought. He went over several options in his head but then he talked himself out of each and every one of them for one reason or another. Probably because he'd been raised in a very money-conscious environment. Meaning that even spending hypothetical money in such large sums, all at once, made him cringe. "I don't know. She doesn't really need anything like that..."

"This isn't about need, kid. It's about want. What would she say she wanted?", Tony strained. 

Shrugging his shoulders, Peter sighed. He knew his mentor wasn't going to like his answer but it was the truth and that was all he had. "Probably for me to be happy or something equally cheesy like that.", he half-mumbled, expecting Tony to be completely exasperated with him. However, instead of finding himself being glared at, he felt the man's arm wrap around his shoulders

"You are no help whatsoever.", Tony chuckled. He could hear May saying that. If he were being honest, he could hear himself saying that as well, should Peter ever try to ask him what he wanted. 

"Sorry.", Peter sighed out, already knowing he wasn't being near as helpful as Tony seemed to want him to be. That didn't mean he stopped trying though, "What kinds of stuff does Ms. Potts like?"

"Not strawberries...", Tony mumbled under his breath so quietly and incoherently that even Peter couldn't hear him. 

Shaking his head, Peter paused in his steps and looked his mentor over. "Huh?", he asked in confusion. Not only had he been unable to understand one word the man said but he'd never heard him sound so... unintelligible before. It was weird. 

"Nothing. She, uh... she likes the color blue and... art. She loves modern art.", Tony answered, that time in a much more clearly. 

"Maybe you should get her something that has to do with art then...", Peter replied as he started to look through the windows and doors into the crowded shops. There really were a lot of people there. It was almost overwhelming. 

"I could buy her the Metropolitan Museum of Art...", Tony came back with a teasing smile.

Peter sighed and started towards a store that looked like it might have some cool artsy things in it, pulling Tony along by his sleeve. "I'm pretty sure that qualifies as overboard."

"Probably.", Tony admitted and then before he could say anything else a window display got his attention. "What about something like that?", he asked, gesturing over his shoulder towards the item that had caught his eye. 

"The whole store?", Peter asked warily. 

"What? _No._ I mean the sculpture in the window. That's modern, right?", Tony asked with a grin that Peter couldn't quite read.

Squinting his eyes, Peter looked at the display and tried to figure out what the man was looking at that might make a good gift for Pepper but he didn't really see anything. All he saw was a few over-priced models and... Then he saw _exactly_ what Tony was looking at and huffed a laugh. "The Iron Man?"

"Obviously. What do you think? I mean it looks, nice. ...and it's_ very modern_....", Tony said and Peter couldn't decide if he was being serious or not but he certainly hoped that he wasn't. He also wasn't sure he would put it past him. 

"Isn't that kind of narcissistic or something isn't it?", Peter asked skeptically. "Giving your girlfriend a two thousand dollar sculpture of _yourself_ for Christmas."

Throwing up his hand in mock frustration, Tony looked from the windows back to his mentee. "Well, it's too late to commission a sculpture of her!", he said loud enough to draw the attention of a few passerby's, though none of them seemed to recognize who he was. Or were too occupied with their own tasks to care. Either way, Peter was glad they kept moving.

"What about some nice earring or a necklace or something?", Peter suggested with a wave of his hand. They were right beside one of the many jewelers that the mall housed. Surely there was something in there that would suffice. 

"I don't have time to handpick any diamonds or design a setting. Let alone wait for them to make it. I need something today.", Tony replied as if that should have been obvious.

"Why does it have to be crazy expensive?", Peter nearly whined with exasperation. "Why can't you just get her something... normal?"

"Because she's..._ her._ I can't buy her a _keychain_ and call it a day.", Tony returned, matching Peter's petulant tone and then smiling when it made the kid laugh.

"I'm not saying you can't spend some money on it.", Peter explained with a deep sigh. "I'm just... why does it have to be expensive to be good? Maybe she would like a, I don't know... blue sweater because it's her favorite color and you thought she would look pretty wearing it."

"It's not that simple.", Tony replied in disbelief. There was no way it was that simple. If it was that simple he would have gotten it right years ago. 

"Yes, it is.", Peter replied with a laugh as he pulled the man towards the pretzel line. "It's the thought that counts and if she knew that you bought it because you thought about her while you picked it then she'll like it, _even if she doesn't it_, just because you tried.", he explained while holding his hand out so that the man could hand him the money to purchase a large soft pretzel. 

After taking his change back from the man behind the register, Tony looked at Peter and sighed. "You're making no sense. You know that right?"

"Ugh. Yes, I am, you're just _not listening_.", Peter asserted before biting into the pretzel and then waving it around wildly as he began to explain. "I'm saying that it doesn't have to be super crazy expensive. Like, if you know she likes modern art and you bought her a coffee mug with a picture of her favorite painting on it then she would _like the mug_ even if she_ didn't like coffee_ because you _remembered_ she liked the art."

"Oh.", Tony replied, suddenly seeing the kid's point. He wasn't wholly convinced... but he could see his point. "Yeah, okay, I guess that makes _some_ sense..."

After that, they walked through a few stores, where Tony picked up several items only to put them back again seconds later. Peter tried to point a few things out that he thought might work but Tony either shook his head or glared at his every attempt. Eventually, after what felt like ages, they made there was back around to the food court again but before Tony could drag him to the escalator, Peter put on the brakes. "Can we get a cinnamon roll while we're down here?"

Tony paused and stared at the kid beside him as if he were trying to decide if he was serious or not. "You just had a pretzel an hour ago. Do you really need one?"

"I mean... no? I guess not.", Peter replied with a shrug of his shoulders. He didn't _need_ it so much as he _wanted_ it. They were gooey and delicious and far as he knew, you could only get them at the mall. "...but they're _so good_! Can we _at least_ share one?"

"Fine." , Tony relented. It wasn' like he'd eaten a substantial lunch. "Go get one. I'm going to go find somewhere to sit.", he added before shewing the kid off towards the long line and sitting down at one of the smaller tables to think. He realized that there was still another entire floor or stores to look at but he was so ready to be done and then his mind wandered back to one of his earlier ideas... _but less_.

The second Peter got back with a carton in hand he sat down and immediately noticed the thoughtful look on Tony's face. Assuming that meant that the man had come to some sort of a decision, he grinned. "So what are you going to get her?"

"I'm still thinking about the Metropolitan Museum of Art--", Tony started only to flinch when Peter yelled hit name and threw a wadded up napkin at his head.

"--Tony! Were you even listening to me--", Peter interrupted with every intention of going back over everything he'd said earlier about the thought being what counted but once he let the man speak again he realized that would be blissfully unnecessary.

"--Hear me out, kid!", Tony called back with a laugh. "I was thinking that maybe I could arrange a private tour with the curator... after hours or something so it's just the two of us.", he said, trying to make himself more clear. He'd actually put quite a lot of thought into that. He was sure that she would love it and he was also sure that he would love to be there to watch her love it. It almost felt a little _selfish._

"That... that's not bad.", Peter sputtered back in shock. It seemed like his speech from earlier had sunk in after all. "...it's also kind of... _cute_."

Giving his mentee his most menacing looking, Tony stood up and placed his hands indignantly onto his hips. "That's it. Never mind, I'm buying the sculpture--", he griped before pretending to walk off in that direction.

"--No! I didn't mean it like that, Tony!", Peter laughed as he grabbed the man's arm to stop him. "It's not cute. It's... it's very... manly and um... awesome."

Turning back around Tony shook his arm free from the teenager's grasp and smiled. "In that case, I guess I'll do that. Do you still want to walk around upstairs?"

"Mm-hmm.", Peter said with a smile. "There's a video game store up there I want to look at, then we can go."

Tony nodded his head and the two of them sat there for a few more minutes taking turns digging their forks into the frosting covered confection and talking about other things. Once they were done and cleaned up Peter led the way towards the store he wanted to look at and Tony followed closely behind still glancing at the various store advertisements and window setups. Then right as Peter was about to walk into the game store, Tony saw something glistening in the display case of the jewelry store beside it. "Hey, would you look at that...", he mused out loud, thus calling Peter back to his side. "Pepper has flowers that look just like that in her office.", he said as he pointed towards a small blue flower-shaped pendant. 

"Are you going to get it for her?", Peter asked excitedly. "Maybe she could wear it to museum thingy that you plan!"

Tony studied the jeweled flower for several seconds and realized that he might actually want to get it for her. It seemed odd, considering he had no idea what the quality of the gems were or whether they were set in stainless steel or twenty-four karat white gold. He didn't even know how much it cost but he could perfectly picture Pepper wearing it and it suddenly none of those other things really mattered. "Yeah, Buddy. That's a good plan."

~o~o~o~o~o~

It was quite a while later before they finally made it back to the car so that Tony could dive the kid home. He had his small purchase in his pocket and Peter had something he'd quickly purchased on the way out hidden away in a bag. The ride back ended up being rather quiet. The mall had been filled with every kind of noise and both of them were happy to bask in the silence for a little while. Then before either of them knew it, Tony was parking in front of Peter's building. "Thanks for your help today, kiddo.", he said honestly. He wasn't sure what he would have ended up with without Peter there to steer him in the right direction.

"No problem, Tony. I can't wait to hear what she says about it!", Peter replied with enthusiasm. The idea that he'd helped pick it out left him feeling rather invested in her reaction. He was really excited to hear about it later. 

Chuckling lightly, Tony reached over and patter Peter's knee. "I'll tell you all about it after the holidays.", he said, not really expecting to see him again until then. That probably worked out for the best anyway because he'd not actually bought him anything yet. Part of the point of going to the mall was to see what the kid picked up and then to go home and order it but he wasn't so sure about that plan anymore. He was starting to wonder if he could do better. It was fine, he had time to figure it out. 

_[Four more sleeps until Christmas.] _


	9. Pajamas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tuesday, December 24th -Christmas Eve

For Tony, Christmas Eve was just another evening. There was no big family to go home to or huge celebrations to be had. The majority of the residents of the compound were elsewhere for the next several days and it was quiet. Almost peaceful as he made his way into the empty penthouse where the tree he and Peter had decorated was shining in the corner. As he stood in the kitchen starting a pot off coffee, despite the late hour, he looked around the room and sighed contentedly. Even alone, he wasn't alone. There was evidence all over the room to remind him that there were others he that he happily shared that space with now. To his left, Pepper's coffee mug, from early that morning, was still by the sink and one of her sweaters had been tossed over the back of a chair. To his right, Peter's notebook was laying on the counter beside a chewed-up pencil and half of a large pink eraser. 

Still smiling to himself, Tony sat in his recliner and turned on the television. It had been his intention to turn on the news or something. Background noise, while he fiddled with a few ideas on his tablet or flipped through one of the numerous books he'd been telling himself he should read but instead, he ended up staring at the snowflakes on the window. Then, the music on the television caught his attention and he laughed. _Elf._ That was one of the movies Peter had insisted that they watch the week prior. Rather than changing the channel as he would have in the past, he allowed it to play and looked at the wrapped gifts under his tree. 

He knew he would see Pepper the next day. She was going to spend time with her family and then see him in the evening. He already had a really nice dinner planned. He didn't, however, know when he would be seeing Peter next and wondered what he was up to. He assumed he was with May doing something fun. When he was Peter's age he played board games with Jarvis on Christmas Eve while his parents entertained guests. All of the family grandeur was reserved for a few short hours on Christmas morning before they all packed up to go their separate ways. He didn't have time to get too lost in those thoughts before he heard FRIDAY calling for him.

"Boss, Mr. Parker is here and is inquiring of your whereabouts."

"The kid's here?", he questioned stupidly but in his defense, outside of his daily reminder to open his advent calendar, he'd not really spoken to Peter since their trip to the mall. He had no idea that he was going to be stopping by that night. He was meant to be with May.

"Yes, boss. He's currently occupying the common floor living area. Would you like for me to send him up?"

"Yeah, of course.", Tony replied, shaking his head as if that would help clear up his confusion. "Send him up."

Peter came into the penthouse a few minutes later carrying a simply wrapped box topped with a red bow. "Hi, Tony!", he chirped as he came through the door full of smiles and bounce in his step. "I can't stay long but I really wanted to bring you this.", he said, thrusting the package into his mentor's hands still ginning. 

Tony looked at the package that was now in his hands and back at Peter in bewilderment. "Kid... I wasn't expecting to see you tonight.", he said when he couldn't come up with anything else to say.

"I know.", Peter replied with a laugh. "I was going to tell you I was coming by but then I wasn't sure if I would have time but then May said that if I really, really wanted to come to see you tonight that I could as long as I was back in time to watch Miracle on 34th Street with her so I only have, like, thirty minutes.", he added all in one breath. "Open it."

"It's not Christmas yet.", Tony said with a quirk of his eyebrow. "Are we doing this tonight? ...because I sort of imagined the process being a little less... _rushed_..."

Plopping himself down onto the couch beside where Tony was sitting, Peter laughed. "This isn't you're actual Christmas present, Tony. I'll give you that tomorrow--"

"--Tomorrow? You're coming by tomorrow too?", Tony asked in surprise. He'd not planned on seeing Peter at all until the twenty-sixth _at least. _Not that he minded, he was actually pretty excited at the prospect of having the kid over on Christmas day but he seemed to have given Peter the opposite impression as he began to stare at the floor and fiddle with the hem of his shirt.

"Um... I mean I wanted to...but, but if you're, you know... busy... I understand.", Peter stuttered out, suddenly feeling like he'd overstepped his boundaries. It's just that the two of them had gotten so close over the last few months that he got _excited_ and didn't really think about how the man probably had some very important plans of his own for the day. "I'm sorry, Tony. I shouldn't have assumed--"

"--Kid. I would love to see you tomorrow.", Tony replied with a soft smile. He'd not meant to illude to anything else. He was just... surprised. It had never crossed his mind that the kid would want to take time out of his holiday to come and see him. Not when his aunt was off of work and they could be spending that time together. He knew how important that was for the both of them and he certainly didn't want to be in the way of that. "As long as May is okay with it, of course."

"She won't mind.", Peter rapidly replied, almost as if he were scared that Tony wouldn't believe him but when the man nodded his head he sighed in relief. "So... I can come over after lunch?", he asked, his voice laced in hope. "...for just a little while."

Taking in the boy's nervous posture, Tony smirked and waved his hand vaguely towards the ceiling. "It's fine, Pete. I think I can pencil you in."

"Awesome.", Peter replied with glee before nudging the gift that was still sitting on his mentor's lap. "Now, you have to open your Christmas Eve present. It's a tradition."

Smiling a genuine smile, Tony reached over and started to tug at one of the corners of the thin brown paper, glancing up before he'd really exposed anything. "A tradition, huh?"

"Yeah, Tony!", Peter began as he jumped up off of the couch so that he could more easily talk with his hands. "Ever since I was little, I would get special Christmas pajamas to open and wear to bed on Christmas Eve. Not just me though, May and Ben would get them for each other too. Now, even though it's just me and May, we still keep the tradition going and exchange pajamas on Christmas Eve.", he rambled before realizing that maybe including his mentor in his family tradition might come off as a bit _weird_ and he was suddenly worried he'd made a _very big mistake_. However, he was locked in at this point, so he just took a deep breath and finished his speech. "I, um, I wanted to...you know... get you some... too." 

Unwilling to mess with the kid when he looked so incredibly flustered, Tony smiled began to rip the paper away from the box. "Well, let's see what you got me, then, yeah?." 

"Yeah...", Peter replied already feeling a little better about his choice. Tony didn't seem the least bit put off by his gesture and that was enough to put him at ease. Well, mostly. He was slightly worried that the man was simply humoring him and he didn't want him to think that he had to go out of his way to keep that up either. "I mean, you don't have to actually wear them or anything. I just--", he added but was cut off from his verbal thoughts the moment Tony lifted the top off of the box.

"--Really, kid?", Tony asked with absolute, pure and honest delight. "This is great and I am _definitely_ wearing them. Be right, back.", he said before taking the pajamas into his arms and disappearing into his bedroom. Then, not even five minutes later he returned wearing the two-piece, flannel Iron Man pajamas that Peter had picked out for him. They were green with little Iron Mans patterned all over them, each one either donning a Santa hat or carrying an armful of holiday lights. Peter had thought they were pretty funny when he'd spotted them _but Tony_ seemed to be _beyond amused_ and that was even funnier. "What do you think?"

"They look good.", Peter said with a laugh. He couldn't have been happier to see that not only did they fit but that Tony seemed to legitimately like them. 

Crossing the room quickly, Tony sat down next to Peter and leaned forwards on the couch. He'd not been paying any attention to the time when the kid walked in so he had no idea when he needed to leave by. "How much longer do you have?", he asked hoping that the boy had at least a few more minutes.

Peter looked at the clock and did some quick math his head before answering. "Um... about fifteen minutes, I guess.", he said with a shrug of his shoulders. He wasn't too terribly worried about it. He knew May would be okay if he walked a little bit late as long as he had a good reason for it and he was pretty sure that with the way Tony was smiling at him that he would, for sure, have good reason to have stayed for an extra couple of minutes.

"Well, that should be just enough time for me to let you in on one of my old traditions.", Tony replied with a grin as he went on to explain. "When I was young, my parents weren't usually around on Christmas Eve so Jarvis--I've told you about Jarvis before right?", he asked and when Peter nodded his head and smiled, Tony smiled back and continued. "Well, Jarvis, he would hang out with me and play board games. Now, I don't have any quick board games lying around but I do have this deck of cards, so... How about a quick game of Go Fish?"

"Yeah, Tony.", Peter replied with a brisk nod of his head. "That would be great. I mean, I'd love to." 

"Great.", Tony clipped with cool ease, as he pulled a deck of extremely worn cards out of the equally worn looking box and began to shuffle them. Not long after that, they were sitting across from one another picking at a bowl of trail mix and studying their cards. "Got any twos?", Tony asked with a smile.

"Go fish. What kind of games did he play with you? Jarvis, I mean.", Peter asked as he waited for Tony to draw his card and tried to decide what card to call first. "Any sixes?"

"Nope. Go fish.", Tony smirked before softening his features and answering the inquiry. He wasn't typically so open about these sorts of things but for some reason, it felt right and he was able to answer without any hesitation. "When I was little we played Chinese Checkers but when I was your age we played chess. ...and cards. We played a lot of cards. Got any fours?"

"Mm-hmm, here. Any tens?", Peter asked as he nodded his head at his mentor's answer. Especially since he'd been unsure if the man would answer at all. "I like chess. You don't have a chessboard?"

"Go Fish. I do but I didn't think we had time for that tonight. Miracle on 34th Street Remeber?", Tony laughed, even though he was pretty sure the kid did remember that. He never missed an opportunity to spend some extra time with May. "Any sevens?"

"Ugh. Yes.", Peter frowned as he tossed the requested card in the man's direction. Then a thought occurred to him and even though it wasn't quite the same thing, he wondered if Tony would be just as willing to play some games with him the next day as well. "Can we play Chess tomorrow?"

Tony smiled a reminiscing smile that he managed to keep mostly hidden behind his cards. He wasn't used to talking about his childhood to anyone but it seemed that Peter had a way of easily dragging it out of him recently. "Sure, kid. Why not? You know how to play?", he asked, somewhat hoping he would get to teach him, though with Peter being as smart as he was he could only assume that he'd been playing for some years now. 

"Yeah. Uncle Ben taught me with I was six. We used to play a lot.", Peter said not even bothering to glimpse up from the cards in his hands. He couldn't remember the last time he'd really talked to anyone about Ben as much as he had in the last twenty minutes. "Got any twos?"

"Here, take all my twos, you brat.", Tony clipped with a small smile. The openness of the conversation seemed to be getting to both of them, so he made an attempt to cut at least a little bit of the tension that had built up in the room. He wasn't trying to get out of the conversation but he'd wanted the game to be fun and didn't want to lose that. "I used to be really good at Chess but Jarvis knew all the tricks. He'd kick my butt every time.", he said with a fondness to his tone at the memory. "Got any Kings?"

"Nope. Go Fish.", Peter said before sighing deeply and resting his chin in the hand not holding his cards. "I'm not that great at it. I mean I know how to play and all but I don't get a lot of practice, anymore", he said but what he meant was... '_With Ben gone, no one plays with me on regular basis anymore.'_, though he assumed his mentor would think he was referring to the time he spent patrolling. 

Reading perfectly between the lines, Tony nodded his head. "I'll have to teach you some stuff. Not necessarily tomorrow but sometime soon.", he suggested and was glad to see Peter smile at the notion.

"That would be awesome, Tony.", Peter replied in earnest because even though he and Ned played every so often, playing with Tony would be different. It would be more of a learning experience than a way to pass the time. "Any fives?"

Tony peeked up over his hards and grinned. "Go Fish." 

The game with on for the allotted amount of time before they counted their pairs and declared Tony the winner. Peter feigned annoyance at the loss and Tony gloated in response. Peter got home just in time to watch the movie with May but before they settled onto the couch, they exchanged their packages of pajamas. Then, as Peter prepared to change into his, he pulled the deck of cards that Tony had insisted he keep out of his pocket and turned it over in his hands, smiling at the scrawled lettering on the back.

_'Property of Edwin Jarvis.'_

[_One More Sleep until Christmas_]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is actually my family tradition. 😊 Brand new pajamas to wear to bed in Christmas Eve and all day for Christmas.


	10. Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wednesday, December 25th- Christmas Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone!   
💙🎄❤️

It was right around one when Tony started to get antsy. Peter had indicated that he would come over after lunch but there had been no specific time set up. He wasn't even sure what had him so worked up. He'd not been expecting to see the kid at all that day and maybe that was it. He was excited. He'd spent the last half hour, darting all over the penthouse, still in his pajamas, pouring snacks into bowls and dusting off an old, marble chess set that had been sitting neglected in the back of his closet for years. Then just as he was rearranging the gifts under the tree for the third time that day FRIDAY announced his young guest's arrival.

When the front door opened and Peter stepped in, he was still in his spider-suit with a backpack on his back and two small packages tucked under his arm. "I'm going to put this under the tree and then change clothes.", he announced before doing just that and hurrying down the hall to the room he called his own. When he returned moments later Tony smiled fondly. Apparently the kid had packed his Christmas pajamas so that he could put them back on when he arrived. Only, unlike the flannel set the kid had picked for him, it looked like May had chosen to get her nephew a pair of red and green plaid pants and a long-sleeved t-shirt with the periodic table rearranged to look like a tree and _'Oh, Chemist-tree'_ printed across the bottom. "Now we're both in pajamas. What do you think?", he asked as he walked back into the room.

"I think May did a bang-up job. I've never seen Christmas pajamas that scream 'nerd' quite like those do." Tony teased but they really were perfect. He was pretty sure that half of the kid's wardrobe consisted of t-shirts adorned with science puns. It was as if that shirt had been made specifically for Peter and he wondered if May had thought the same thing when she'd purchased it. "They're very... you."

"I know!", Peter agreed with a laugh. "I'm totally wearing the shirt to school when we go back in January. I mean, I know that the holidays will be over by then but I can't _not_ wear it one more time." 

"I would expect nothing less from you, Pete.", Tony laughed before becking towards the living room. "I've got us some snacks, there're some presents under the tree and I found the chess set. Pick your poison, kiddo. What should we do first?"

"Presents!", Peter childishly elected before hurrying towards the tree, not to grab a gift for himself but to pull out one he'd carried over for Tony. "I can't wait for you to see this!", he said as he placed the package into the man's hands. 

Tony shook his head and laughed. "You know, I would have thought most kids would be more excited about what was under the tree for them.", he commented but then again, Peter wasn't most kids. He wasn't spoiled or entitled. He was quite the opposite. He had a heart that seemed to beat for others. Making People smile, helping others, just doing good, in general... those were the kinds of things that made the kid happy. It made sense that he would be more interested in giving than receiving. Though he had to admit he was pretty eager to see the kid open his gifts as well. 

Starting at the corner of the small box, Tony pulled the paper away as slowly as possible. Mostly because taking his time seemed to be particularly torturous for Peter and he loved messing with him like that. His efforts were rewarded as he began to run fingers carefully along the crease of the paper so that it wouldn't tear as he snapped the bits of tape. That seemed to be the kid's breaking point and he could no longer hold his tongue. "Come on, Tony! Just open it!", Peter pleaded, looking as though he were actively trying to resist the urge to rip the paper off himself just to hurry the process along. 

"Alright, alright. Keep your shirt on.", Tony chuckled as he tore off the remainder of the paper. As he did so, he could still see the kid practically vibrating with anticipation in his peripheral. It made him smile. Even as he pulled the unknown object out of the box, he smiled and turned it over in his hands. The soldered edges were messy and the entire creation looked as though it had been created for a purpose without much thought having gone towards the outward aesthetics. It was round and had some sort of a lens in it, which led him to look for some sort of a switch. Locating it on what appeared to be the back of the design, Tony looked towards Peter with curiosity. "What is this, Pete?", he asked but didn't really get much in the way of an answer.

"Just turn it on and set it on the table!", Peter impatiently demanded before backtracking slightly. "I meant to say please... Please turn it on. I want you to see what it does."

Nodding his head, Tony flipped the switch and gingerly set it down on the table, where Peter immediately adjusted its position so that the lens was facing away from them. Then the entire sphere seemed to come to life with blue lights and an ever so quiet hum. Not even three seconds later, a holographic image was being projected into the air in front of them. It was from when they had first met. It seemed that at some point during their first meeting, Peter had snapped a quick selfie while he wasn't paying attention. Before he could get much more from that photograph, it was fading and a new one was appearing in its place. It was another selfie that Peter had taken but this time in the lab. Tony was in the background working on a gauntlet. His head so buried in work that he'd never noticed Peter taking the picture.

The photographs faded in and out for a couple of minutes and at some point, the images of them together became less furtive and more intentional with Tony looking up and, at minimum, acknowledging the fact that they were happening. It wasn't until the device scrolled through to the day they tried to carve pumpkins together that there was a photograph where both of them were smiling towards the camera. 

It was as if Tony could see the entire progression of their relationship flashing before his eyes in a matter of minutes. He could see himself going from cautiously aloof to willingly indulgent and eventually to... something else. Affectionate, maybe. Whatever it was, it made his smile meet his eyes and only so many people could accomplish that anymore. It was a very short list, really but Peter was right there at the top of it with Pepper and his best friends.

"Do you like it?", Peter asked hesitantly when Tony didn't say anything for a while. "It's okay if you don't. I got you something else too but--"

"--Did you make this?", Tony asked once he was finally freed from his head and able to comprehend the complexity of the gift he'd been given. It wasn't new technology by any stretch of the imagination but this hadn't been purchased from a large company and was definitely not machine-made. Peter had to have put it together himself and that was both astonishing and unsurprising at the same time. The scientific and engineering know-how that would have been necessary to create something of this caliber was immense and the kid wasn't even out of high school yet.

"Yeah.", Peter said with a small smile. "It took me a little while to get it right but I've worked on it a little bit every time I came over. I, um, I had to borrow a few parts but I'm going to pay you back when I get my Christmas money."

"First of all, this is the most amazing thing I have ever seen and I've seen a lot of things, kiddo. Second, you will pay me back for nothing. You know that everything in the workshop is yours to use. ... as long as it's not locked up or, you know..._ explosive_.", Tony replied with a wide grin. "Third... I can't believe how many pictures you have of me where I'm not even looking up! ...but I love that you took them. This...", Tony said, gesturing towards the sphere that was still cycling through the two dozen or so pictures, "...is the most thoughtful gift, I think I've ever received. Thank you, Pete."

Peter preened at the compliment as he leaned over onto Tony, allowing the man to engulf him in a hug. "I'm really glad you like it. Do you want to open your other one now?"

"Nope. It's your turn now.", Tony replied with a smile as he nudged Peter off of him so that he could go collect one of the packages that were meant for Peter out from under the tree. "This is not near as cool as what you made me but I hope you like it anyway.", he said as he placed the heavy package into the kid's hands. "_I put thought into it."_

"I'm sure I'll love it.", Peter returned as he held the large box up and shook it a bit. "It's really heavy. Did you make something?"

"I didn't make anything.", Tony said with a sigh. He really wished he had but there was always next year... or the kid's birthday. He would definitely make something for Peter for his birthday. That gave him months to think about what that would look like. _To put thought into it._ "I did think about what you would like, though."

Nodding his head, Peter smiled and ripped the paper off right away and tossed the lid to the box aside. Inside was a pair of sleek black ice skates. Upon further inspection, they were just the right size and smelled of leather. Taking them out of the box, he looked at them from every angle with awe on his face. "Does this mean you'll take me ice skating again next year?"

"Are you kidding me? I can't wait until next _yea_r! We're going next _week_.", Tony said with a laugh. "I considered having skating rink built right into the back lawn but decided that might be considered '_going overboard_' and decided to just rent the rink out for a while one night instead. I hope the twenty-eighth works for--", Tony explained only to be cut off by an extremely grateful teenager hanging around his neck. 

"--That's perfect! I can't wait.", Peter happily expressed as he practically dove onto the man and grabbed him around the neck.

"Me, either, Buddy.", Tony managed as he patted the boy gently on the back. Then just as quickly as he'd latched on, Peter let go and was scurrying across the room to get a package out from under the tree, accidentally kicking Tony in the shin the process. "Okay, I guess it's my turn now...", he laughed while lifting his feet up to avoid getting stepped on or tripped over again. 

"It's not as awesome as the other one. This one's just for fun. It's not a big deal.", Peter issued as something of a disclaimer, once he'd handed over the square package. He sort of wondered if he'd given the man his gifts in the wrong order. This wasn't likely to elicit any kind of elated response. It was far more basic and not nearly as impressive. 

Tony smiled and shook his head. "If it's from you then it's a very big deal.", he said while not so carefully pulling the paper away to reveal a simple coffee mug. The words 'Number one' were manufactured on the side and it looked as though Peter had taken some sort of ceramics marker to pen in the words 'Iron Man' in red and gold. It was by far the most hilarious thing he'd ever seen and he couldn't wait to carry it into the office. "That's it. This is my new favorite mug.", he said with seriousness.

Grinning, Peter nodded his head and watched Tony begin to remove the cardboard packaging from around it. "You do love coffee."

"I do.", Tony admitted with a smile.

"...and Iron Man.", Peter added with a smirk. If he could have afforded to get the ridiculous Iron Man statue he would have done it but this worked too. It severed two purposed. To nudge his mentor's ego... and feed his caffeine addiction.

"_I really do._", Tony laughed, knowing that the kid would get a kick out of it. While he did enjoy his own merchandise, he tended to play it up for Peter. "Which is why I'm going to be using this one every day from now on. Starting now. Be right back."

As Peter watched Tony walk into the kitchen to rinse and fill his brand new mug, as image popped into his head and he laughed. "Just don't let dum-E near it."

"Never.", Tony uttered in horror. Then, not even five minutes later he was handing Peter a package before sitting back down on the couch himself. "Alright, here you go. Last one.", he said with a soft smile that quickly turned teasing. "...but only because May made me promise to '_be reasonable_'." If not for her he was sure the kid would have ended up with over twenty presents under his tree. Including every single video game, he'd touched while at the mall.

Peter removed the wrapping without hesitation and lifted the lid. "This is so awesome...", he breathed out, nearly at a loss for words. The box held two unique spider-man ornaments. They were small and detailed and he'd never seen anything like it. He'd looked but, Spider-man being a local celebrity, didn't really make for good novelty items. "Where did you find these? I've looked everywhere for Spider-man merchandise and have never seen anything! This is amazing.", he finally replied once he'd shaken some of his disbelief.

"I had them made.", Tony replied with a smile, hoping the kid wouldn't ask him anything else about it. The entire commission had been rushed and therefore expensive. While the kid had no problem spending his money he was concerned that this would fall into that '_overboard'_ category. Though, to be fair one of them was really for him. He just didn't want to put it on the tree for the observant teenager to find before they'd had the chance to exchange gifts. "One of them is meant to stay here. The other can go home with you so that you have one for your tree there. You pick."

It took very little debate for Peter to decide to keep the swinging spidey there to hang beside Iron Man and take the hero-posing spidey home with him. "This is so cool. Ned is going to flip when he sees this.", he said while continuing to turn them each over in his hands, taking in every tiny detail.

"Hmm.", Tony hummed around the edge of his cup. "I'll bet."

"Thank you.", Peter said with a smile and then he got up to place one on the tree directly beside where Tony had hung the flying Iron Man because they almost looked like they belonged together.

"You're welcome.", Tony sighed out. The day had already been better than he could have ever imagined and he still had things to do. Including a game of chess with his favorite young adult. "You feel up to a game of chess?"

"Yeah.", Peter replied simply and Tony gestured towards the snacks still spread across the table. "That would be great."

"Well, pull that bowl of nuts over here and I'll start setting it up.", Tony said and that's how they spent the next hour. As expected Tony won but Peter didn't mind and eventually it was time for them to part ways with a tight hug. "I'll see you on Saturday, Kiddo. Be good for May."

"Yep!", Peter chirped before they released their hold on one another. Then just as Peter was readying himself to leap from the balcony they simultaneously shouted...

_..."Merry Christmas!"_


	11. Winter Wonderland

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Saturday, December 28th

May was back to work on the Saturday after Christmas. Peter wasn't terribly disappointed. They'd had an excellent holiday with plenty of family time, thanks to her paid time off. As he swung from rooftop to rooftop, he thought about everything that had taken place that month and smiled. He and May had been able to cook dinner together for three nights in a row and that had been a record. They'd also baked cookies, made an attempt at homemade eggnog and went caroling with a few of their neighbors. 

Then there was Tony. He'd gotten to spend time with him. Not just doing silly things as they had been doing for the last couple of months. This was different. They were sharing things. Peter had taught Tony how to make snowflakes and Tony had taught him how to ice skate. They'd shared family traditions with each other and exchanged gifts. Real gifts. Gifts that had required thought and careful consideration. It was really nice and had filled a hole in his heart that he'd not even realized was there.

Sighing deeply, he looked at the way the sun was starting to go from a light yellow hue to a warm orange haze and decided it was time to head home. He needed to get his things together. Tony was going to be there to pick him up later so that they could spend the evening in the city. Ultimately ending the night at the ice skating rink, just the two of them, after closing. He had no idea what they would be doing for the few hours they had before that but he knew that whatever it was would be great because it would be with Tony. 

Once he was back in his apartment he changed out of his spider-suit and into a pair of new jeans and a heavy sweater. He was just starting to consider whether or not he was supposed to eat dinner or not when there was a knock at his door. Smiling to himself, he crossed the room and opened the door to find, Tony standing there smiling back at him.

"Hey, kiddo! Ready to head out?", the man asked the second he laid eyes on his young mentee. He wasn't completely sure what they were going to do to kill the next few hours but he assumed it would include dinner and an excessive amount of outside time. Oddly enough, he found that he didn't mind so much. He'd learned that the kid loved to be outdoors and that was making him begin to love it too. It was weird how things worked out.

"I just need shoes and my skates.", Peter replied with a smile before taking off down the hall, returning moments later ready to put on his coat and knitted accessories. "Am I wearing enough clothes for you, Tony? I don't need to go get an extra shirt or anything?", he asked teasingly once he'd knotted his new scarf around his neck.

Tony scoffed and rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. "Like, I care. Wear whatever you want.", he said but he could only hold the aloof expression for so long before he laughed. "Is that new scarf?"

"Yep! May made it for me. I didn't even know she was learning how to knit. It was a pretty cool surprise.", he replied with glee. It wasn't perfectly made but it was pattered with red and blue stripes and he loved it. 

"Very nice.", Tony said with a smile before reaching out to grab Peter's bag off the floor and lead him towards the car. "Did you eat?"

Peter sighed and shifted slightly on his feet. He wasn't really sure what answer the man was looking for. "No. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to or not but if you already had dinner then I can just get a couple of hotdogs.", he said, figuring that would cover him either way. 

Chuckling at the kid's nervous posture, Tony placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled. "Nope. I was waiting for you. I figured that even if you did eat, you would be more than willing to eat again."

"That's probably true.", Peter admitted with a laugh. "I would have _at least_ gotten some dessert."

"Hmm.", Tony replied ambiguously. He'd watched the kid polish off an entire large pizza all on his own over the course of an evening. Therefore, he was convinced that unless the boy had just gotten up from a three-course meal, he would have definitely ordered more than just _a dessert._ "Well, let's get going. Italian or Chinese?"

"Chinese, please!", Peter replied without missing a beat and soon they were sitting in the back corner of a really nice Asian restaurant that Peter didn't even know existed. After that, rather than going back to the car, Tony led them down the sidewalk towards the large park near the ice skating rink. The sun had gone down and the street lamps were shining down onto the still snow-covered trees making them gleam under the lights. As they walked side by side, Peter blew into the air and watched as his breath turned to steam and took a few calculated steps in order to crunch the hardened snow beneath his shoes. Glancing beside him he saw Tony smiling at him with an unreadable expression and paused. "What?"

"Nothing, Buddy. I was just watching you.", Tony replied honestly. The kid stomping thought he snow and intentionally breathing into the cold to create little puffs of fog made him feel happy. There were times he worried about how much pressure the kid put on himself when it came to heroism. Seeing him doing things that were so... immature was almost a relief. Then when he saw the kid looking at him like he was crazy or something he rolled his eyes. "What? I'm not allowed to look at you?"

As Peter was trying to come up with a snarky response to that, he heard something in the distance and perked up. It sounded like... bells. Looking at Tony he was sure the man wasn't able to hear them yet so he took him by the hand and started to pull him in the direction of the noise. 

"Where are we going, kid?", Tony chuckled as the kid relentlessly tugged at his hand, dragging him through the snow towards the center of the park.

Never pausing in his steps, Peter turned around to grin at his mentor. "I hear bells. Like, sleigh bells.", he excitedly exclaimed.

Tony rolled his eyes and smiled at the boy's enthusiasm. "You do realize that Santa's already back at the North Pole, right? Christmas was two days ago", he teased and was rewarded not even a full ten seconds later when Peter glared over his shoulder.

"Uhg. First of all, Santa's not real--", Peter scoffed only to be cut off before he could elaborate.

"--Better not let Happy hear you say that. You'll break his heart.", Tony replied with a laugh and he attempted to skid around a puddle of slush that had formed at the edge of the path. However, his evasive movement made him stumble. 

Pausing so that his mentor could regain his balance, Peter smirked. "I'm sure Happy would be fine.", he said before allowing silence to take over. With very little effort he could hear the bells high pitched jangle in the distance though it sounded as though it were slowing approaching them where they stood. "You can't hear it yet?", Peter asked quietly.

Taking a moment to stand as still as possible, Tony smiled. "Yeah, kid, I hear it. It's probably a carriage or--", he started but before he could finish his sentence a white horse covered in bells and red ribbons rounded the corner pulling a large sled-like carriage. 

"--A sleigh! Look! There's a horse!", Peter strained as he tried to keep himself from shouting. As long as he'd lived in New York he'd never seen anything quite like that. He'd seen horses pulling carriages of course. Just not ones that looked so...festive. "Oh my God... I'm going to pet it!"

Tony snorted and followed behind as Peter quickly and carefully approached the large animal. "You act like you've never seen a horse before, kiddo.", he said when he caught up to where Peter had removed his mitten and was petting the horse's velvety nose. It really was a beautiful animal.

"I've seen lot's of horses thank you very much.", Peter replied with mild sarcasm. "Just not one as pretty as this one.", he added before looking up at the well-dressed man at the reigns. "What's her name?"

"Rosie.", the man said with a faint British accent. "Would you like to take a ride through the park?"

"Can we?", Peter practically gasped in Tony's direction. That was something he'd never done before. "Please, Tony? How awesome would that be!"

"So very awesome.", Tony returned without feeling but he had no intention of telling the kid 'no'. They had time to kill and he supposed this was one way to do it. "How much?", he asked and then handed over his card to run it through the man's mobile payment system. "Alright, kid, you better enjoy this. It's costing me more than a dollar a minute."

Completely unphased, Peter jumped up into the cart and waited for Tony to do the same. Then they were off, bells rhythmically jingling with every step. Scooting closer to Tony's side, Peter smiled. The air was crisp and clear and there was something both exciting and wonderous about being in the back of a horse-drawn sleigh. "Have you ever done this before, Tony?"

"Nope. This is a first for me too, kiddo.", Tony said with a smile. To have not been the least bit interested in the concept, he found himself enjoying it. He'd been through that part hundreds if not thousands of times in every season but this seemed different. Even he could admit that it was nice. "It's like a perfect winter wonderland out here.", he said with a smirk.

Peter looked around at the scenery and agreed with a sigh. "Yeah. ...but I think it would have to start snowing to be_ perfectly_ perfect."

"Hmm", Tony noncommittally hummed. Then changed the subject. "What all did you get for Christmas."

"Mostly clothes. I got a new lego set too, though.", Peter replied without missing a beat. Then he remembered the gift he'd helped Tony pick at the mall and his eyes lit up with interest. "Hey! What did Ms. Potts think about the present you got her!"

"She loved it. Was all smiles. I don't think I've ever seen her look so surprised.", Tony said with a fond smile. He'd never seen her so happy with anything he'd give her before. "I couldn't have done that without your help.", he admitted. Asking the boy for his opinion had been the way to go.

After that, there were several minutes of silence as Peter sat and thought about his winter break. "Hey! Did you know it's the seventh night of Hanukkah?", he happily asked once he remembered that he'd not yet told Tony about his most recent holiday activity.

Tony chuckled and looked the boy over. "No... Why? Are you Jewish now?", he asked with amusement. The comment seemed out of place. Then again, Peter could change subjects on a dime and generally with no context to speak of. It was one of the things he loved about it. Nothing was ever boring with Peter was around.

"No! I was just saying!", Peter rapidly defended with a smile. Even if he was sure what exactly he was defending. "Me and Ned went to our friend Daniel's house last night and it was cool.", he added as an explanation. The evening had been interesting and he wanted to tell him about it. 

"Oh yeah?", Tony replied, reaching his arm around his mentee's shoulders. "I can't say I actually know much about it."

"Me either but it was really neat. We ate all kinds of awesome food, like jelly doughnuts and those potato pancake things...latkes. That's what they were called... then his mom and dad took turns reading and saying prayers and stuff. Oh, and Daniel and his sister lit the candles on their menorahs. They let me and Ned light one too. Like, they didn't have to share any of that with us but they did, which was super awesome.", Peter rambled from the comfort of his mentor's warm embrace.

Tony nodded along until he felt like he could get a word in, smiling the whole time. He never, in a million years, imagined himself ever appreciating the incessant chatter of a teenaged boy. "Sounds nice." 

"Mm-hmm. I hope that we can do it again next year. I'll have to teach you the game that we played with his little sister.", Peter said with glee. "I might have to look up the rules again but there was a lot of candy involved."

Giving Peter a gentle squeeze, Tony laughed out loud. "Of course there was.", he said because if it had anything to do with food the kid would be all over it. Looking around them, he realized their loop around the park was coming to a close and sighed. He wasn't sure he was ready to exit affable environment they'd created but a look at his watch said there wasn't any time for a second go around. "We're almost back to where we started. You ready to go ice skating?"

"Yep.", Peter replied as he casually reached for the bag that he'd been carrying while Tony reached for his own. "I think I'll do better this time."

Smiling softly, Tony helped Peter down from the sleigh and patted him on the shoulder. "I know you will."

As they walked down the sidewalk towards the ice skating rink, that would soon be opened up just to them, a few snowflakes started to float towards the ground, swirling in the wind and landing softly on the mitten covered palms of Peter's outstretched hands. ...and then it really was the perfect winter wonderland.


	12. Resolutions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tuesday, December 31st - New Year's Eve

"Peter!", May yelled down the hall as she tried to get the back onto her second earring. "We've got to go! Tony was expecting us to be there at eight and it's almost seven-forty-five now."

Tony had invited both Peter and May to attend a large New Year's Eve party at the compound. Well, large by Peter's standards. All of the Avengers would be there, some of them with their significant others. There would also be several of Tony and Pepper's friends and co-workers attending. It wasn't a large media event or anything though. Tony had called it a 'friendly get together' but Peter wasn't so sure about that. Anything that required him to put on a dress shirt and slacks did not fall into that category for him. "I'm coming, Aunt May!", he shouted before skidding down the hall in his socks with a tie hanging loosely around his neck. "Do you remember how to tie the tie?"

"Sorry, Sweety. I have no idea anymore. We'll figure it out when we get there.", she replied with remorse but it had been a while since they'd sat down and learned how to do that together. Watching a video would probably be enough to jog her memory but they didn't have time for that. "Get your shoes!"

From the moment they stepped foot into the compound Peter already felt overwhelmed. They were late, so there were already people everywhere. The lights were dim, which was nice but the music was far too loud. Looking around he couldn't see Tony anywhere. He spotted Bruce fairly quickly and hurriedly made his way over to him with May close behind. "Hey, Dr. Banner. Do you know where Tony is?", he asked hoping that the man was somewhere _quieter _but of course luck was not on his side as Bruce pointed towards the opposite side of the large room to where Tony was standing, surrounded by several nicely dressed men.

Peter nodded his head and as his aunt went to say hello to Happy, he crossed the room towards his mentor. "Hey, Kid! Glad you could make it!", the man said with a firm pat to his shoulder. "I was just telling these guys about you they're pretty eager to meet-- what's up with your tie?", he asked, cutting himself off in his explanation. 

"Oh.", Peter replied as he grabbed both ends of the tie that was still dangling down the front of his shirt. "May was supposed to help me with it when we got here but she needed to rewatch the video first and then I guess we both forgot.", Peter replied somewhat sheepishly. He really needed to sit down with her one day and learn how to do it for real. Last time had been rather rushed. Before he could say that he would go find her and have her fix it for him, Tony was already prying it out of his hands.

"Turn around, kid.", Tony said softly as he spun Peter by the shoulder so that he now had his back to his chest and reached around to properly knot the tie in place. "There you go.", he said with as he smoothed out the slightly wrinkled material. "You're looking good there, Buddy."

Peter blushed and allowed himself to be introduced to the group of people that Tony had previously been surrounded by. Glancing across the room, it looked like May was perfectly content to sit at the bar with the Head of Security and sip at a glass of what he assumed was some sort of wine. He rarely saw May smile as much as she was right then and it made him smile to see it. 

The next few hours were a blur of heavy hors d'oeuvres, fancy mocktails, and introductions. When Tony wasn't dragging him around to show him off, he was with May. Peter introduced her to the Avengers and she forced him to dance. At some point, late in the evening, she ended up back with Happy and he was starting to get tired. Not sleepy tired, so much as socially exhausted. Between the noise and the constant conversation, he was starting to feel as though the walls were beginning to close in on him. 

He tugged lightly at his tie and looked around the room. May looked utterly engrossed in whatever she was talking about with Happy and Tony was nowhere in sight. He spotted Pepper for a brief moment and tried to follow her through the crowd assuming she would lead him to his mentor but he lost track of her after only a few steps. Taking a deep breath and covering his ears for a moment, he spotted the balcony door and sighed. It would be cold... but quiet there and he needed that. Even if it was only for a moment.

He stayed there, leaning on the railing until he was shivering. Looking towards the commotion inside and knew it must be nearing midnight but he wasn't ready to go back in. He sort of wished he gotten his coat before he stepped out. Sighing deeply he looked back out over the railing towards the tree line. The sky was clear and the stars were shining brightly in the distance. He was so absorbed by the scenery that he didn't hear the door slide open behind him. Nor did he hear Tony's footsteps as the approached him. All he knew what that there was suddenly a very warm jacket being placed over his shoulders.

"It's freezing out here, Pete. What are you doing?", Tony whispered as he ran his hands vigorously up and down Peter's arms. "I've been looking all over for you."

Turning around to face his mentor, Peter smiled and tried to stop the chattering of his teeth. "I just wanted some quiet, Tony. It's really loud in there."

Tony nodded his head and sighed. He'd not really given that any thought when he'd invited the kid and his aunt to the party. It was loud. Probably more so than the lab when the music was at his preferred volume. "I'm sorry, kid. I should have considered that.", he said and then tilted his head in curiosity. "Why didn't you just go up to your room for a while?"

Having not really considered that option, Peter shrugged his shoulders. That probably would have been a more reasonable choice but it was nice outside. It would have been even nicer with a coat but Tony's sports jacket was helping quite a bit. "I don't know. I like being outside.", he finally answered.

Taking a deep breath, Tony picked up the drink he'd set aside and took a sip before replying. "You ready to go in now?"

"Not really.", Peter said with a small smile but he turned towards the door anyway. "...but we can."

Giving Peter a skeptical look, Tony looked his mentee over from head to tow. "You sure you're not too cold.", he asked with slight concern. He wasn't sure how long the boy had been standing out there and his sports jacket alone wasn't exactly made for this sort of weather. It had to be below freezing. "That wind is brisk."

"I'm okay if you are.", Peter said with a small laugh as he tugged the jacket more tightly around his middle and went back to leaning on the railing. The wind was pretty chilly. 

"I'll be alright for a little while.", Tony replied before joining Peter in looking over the compound grounds. It was dark but the moonlight was just enough to add a soft glow to the scenery. "You know, it's been a pretty great year, hasn't it.", he reflected so quietly that Peter was sure if he was meant to answer or not. 

When Tony turned to look at him a moment later, he hummed in agreement. It had been a really good year. Before he could verbalize that the man was speaking again sounding just as tender as he had moments before. 

"I've really enjoyed getting to know you. I'm glad we met.", Tony said without ever breaking eye contact. The conversation was comfortable but at the same time, it seemed out of place. He was used to the man giving him the occasional soft look or gentle words but he'd never heard him sound quite so... affectionate. Or maybe he'd just never noticed before. He wasn't sure.

Realizing he'd not answered yet, Peter smiled and looked up towards the star-speckled sky. "Me too. I like hanging out with you.", he finally said with earnest. 

"Yeah?", Tony questioned as he moved to wrap an arm around Peter's still slightly shivering shoulders. "I like hanging out with you too... I guess it took me a pretty long time to start showing it, huh?", he admitted before pulling the boy into a firm side hug. 

Taking a deep breath, Peter decided that if for whatever reason, Tony was going to be so open, he may as well be too. "No... I always knew you cared. You didn't have to do anything for me or with me after Germany but you did--still do. You do a lot with me and I really love it.", he admitted with a slight blush to his cheeks. He probably could have said a whole lot more but he decided to stop there. 

Tony nodded his head in mild agreement. He had cared all along. From the moment they met, he cared. That had concerned him at first, prompting his very hands-off approach but when push came to shove and the kid's aunt had insisted on a 'real' internship, well, things quickly began to change. For the better. He was just glad that Peter was perceptive enough to pick up on that. "You're a smart kid."

Not really knowing what to do with a compliment like that at the moment, Peter replied with a simple, "Thanks." 

Never having been one for 'emotional' talks, Tony hesitated for a minute or so. There was so much more he wanted to say but he wasn't sure his he could... or should... Deciding to take a chance and just go for it, he turned the kid around so that they were face to face again. "I love you, you know that?", he said with a look that Peter couldn't quite decern. 

"Mhmm.", Peter agreed because he did know that. Well, the thought he knew that. He'd just never expected to hear it. Though to be fair, the man had been being much more open with him over the last few weeks. At the same time, he just couldn't figure out where all of this was coming from. "How, how much have you had to, um, to drink?", he stuttered out, hoping that the question wasn't completely inappropriate but he needed to know.

"You think I'm drunk?", Tony laughed out in surprise. He was certain the kid knew about his past relationship with alcohol but he didn't think he'd ever given the boy any indication that drinking was still something he did. Mostly because it wasn't. He'd been dry for a long time at that point. "Kid. I haven't had any alcohol in well over a year. I'm perfectly sober."

Peter took a full two minutes to process that. Tony had said that he loved him on his own accord. It seemed unreal. "You... love me?", he questioned with some amount of optimistic doubt. 

"Yeah, Buddy. I'll probably never say it enough but yeah, I really do.", Tony admitted. Saying 'I love you' was still rather foreign. He said it to Pepper all the time but this was different. It was a completely different kind of love but he'd felt the need to acknowledge it... so he did and he didn't regret it. Even if the kid never said it back. ...but of course, he did.

"I love you too.", Peter said with a shy smile as he pulled the man into a hug. As he did so, fireworks began to go off in the far distance and cheering could be heard from the inside. 

"Hey, would you look at that. It must be midnight.", Tony said with a laugh as he pulled Peter in just a bit more closely. "Happy New Year, kiddo."

Looking behind him the room behind the sliding glass door was filled with confetti and couples bringing in the New Year together. He suddenly felt guilty for taking up so much of the man's evening that he missed celebrating with Pepper. "Oh, I'm, I'm sorry...", he said with remorse.

"Sorry for what?", Tony said with a laugh that Peter could feel rumbling in the man's chest where he was still pressed up against it and pulled back. 

"You should have been with Ms. Potts... you should have--", he started.

"--I should have nothing.", Tony finished. "I'm with you and that's fine. I'll be with Pepper all night."

"Are you sure.", Peter asked even though Tony seemed completely at ease and there was no reason for him to question it. Tony would never lie to him. 

"I'm very sure.", Tony said before maneuvering himself to Peter's side and placing his hand on his back to urge him forward. "Should we head back inside."

"Yeah. Aunt May's probably looking for me.", Peter agreed. At this point, he was sure she must have been looking for him. 

"Probably.", Tony agreed as he opened the doors and allowed the noise from inside to start to filter out and around them. "Hey, kid?", he said just before crossing over the threshold into the warmer atmosphere. 

"Hmm?", Peter returned, pausing in his steps.

"Next year? I'm going to try to be so much better. With you, with Pepper, with the team--", he began with seriousness. It seemed like every year he continued to grow into a better man but he wanted to say it all the same. Promising it to someone else made the resolution a little easier to keep. Then there was someone there to hold him accountable. To remind him _why_ he wanted to be better. 

"--I know. I'm going to try to be better too.", Peter quickly added. He'd not forgotten the day that the man had told him that he was supposed to be better. Knowing that his mentor had that much faith in him was amazing because he was his hero and everything he hoped he could be. He couldn't actually imagine himself ever surpassing him in anything which is why the man's next words were so surprising. 

Tony looked at Peter and thought about not only how much they had in common but also the things that set them apart. Like him, Peter was determined and tended to put other's safety before his own but unlike him...Peter was magnanimous and trusting almost to a fault. He was optimistic and could easily find the good in anyone. With all of that in mind, he looked at Peter with admiration. "You're already better.", he whispered and watched as the boys face contorted from confusion to pride. Then, when nothing else was said, he clapped the boy on the back and turned towards the open door. "Now that we have all of that settled", he said with mock seriousness as grabbed his kid by the shoulder and guided them both through the open door. "let's get back inside before we both freeze."

Peter laughed and followed his mentor. It was only five minutes in but he was already looking forward to what the new year had to offer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for encouraging me to write this and I hope that you will all continue to encourage me as I continue to write in the future.
> 
> I also want to wish every single one of you a very happy New year filled with love and blessings.


End file.
